2008 Air New Zealand Cup

The 2008 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 31 July 2008, and continued until the final on 25 October 2008.

2008 Air New Zealand Cup
Countries	New Zealand
Date	31 July - 25 October
Champions	Canterbury
Runners-up	Wellington
Matches played	77
Attendance	530,226 (average 6,886 per match)
Top point scorer	Blair Stewart (105)
Top try scorer	Hosea Gear (14)

This season was the third of the expanded competition, which succeeded the First Division of the National Provincial Championship. It started with a 10-week round robin in which every team missed out on playing 3 teams in the competition. This was followed by a knockout playoff involving 8 teams, made up of quarterfinals, semifinals and the final.

On 11 August 2008 the New Zealand Rugby Union initially announced that Tasman and Northland would both be relegated from the Air New Zealand Cup after the completion of the 2008 season. Both teams failed to meet criteria which included financial stability, population, player training and development, playing history, and administration. This decision was reversed towards the end of the 2008 season, with Tasman and Northland remaining in the competition for two more years.[1]

Canterbury won their sixth national provincial title by defeating Wellington 7–6 at Westpac Stadium, Wellington. It was the third consecutive season that Wellington have finished runners-up.

Standings

Qualified for the quarterfinals

The top eight teams in pool play advanced to the Quarter Finals.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Wellington	10	9	0	1	353	161	+192	8	0	44
2	Canterbury	10	9	0	1	270	101	+169	5	1	42
3	Hawke's Bay	10	7	0	3	265	183	+82	5	1	34
4	Bay of Plenty	10	6	0	4	185	152	+33	2	3	28
5	Southland	10	6	0	4	225	249	−24	3	1	25
6	Waikato	10	4	1	5	258	235	+23	5	2	25
7	Tasman	10	4	1	5	188	200	−12	2	3	23
8	Taranaki	10	4	1	5	201	209	−8	3	2	23
9	Northland	10	4	0	6	212	227	−15	3	3	22
10	Otago	10	4	1	5	207	231	−24	2	2	22
11	Auckland	10	5	0	5	149	193	−44	2	0	22
12	North Harbour	10	3	0	7	225	285	−61	3	4	19
13	Counties-Manukau	10	2	1	7	140	317	−177	1	2	13
14	Manawatu	10	1	1	8	149	283	−134	2	1	9

Table notes

• Pos = Table Position
• Pld = Played
• W = Win (Worth 4 points)
• D = Draw (Worth 2 points)
• L = Loss (Worth 0 points)
• PF = For (Total points scored)
• PA = Against (Total points scored against)
• PD = Points difference
• BP1 = Bonus Point (1 Bonus Point will be awarded to any team that scores 4 tries or more regardless of win/loss/draw.)
• BP2 = Bonus Point (1 Bonus Point will be awarded to the losing side if the loss is by 7 points or less.)
• Pts = Progressive points tally

NB:

• It is possible to receive 2 bonus points in a loss.
• In the event of a tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by:[2]

1. The winner of the last match between the two provinces if played this season then,
2. Highest points differential then,
3. Most tries scored then,
4. A coin toss.

Points Scorers

	Player	Team	Pts
1	Blair Stewart	Southland	105
2	Matt Berquist	Hawke's Bay	97
3	Mike Delany	Bay of Plenty	93
4	Willie Ripia	Taranaki	93
5	Jimmy Gopperth	North Harbour	90

Try Scorers

	Player	Team	Tries
1	Hosea Gear	Wellington	14
2	Zac Guildford	Hawke's Bay	8
3=	James Paterson	Canterbury	7
3=	Lote Raikabula	Manawatu	7
3=	Karne Hesketh	Otago	7
3=	Paul Perez	Taranaki	7

Attendances

	Team	Played	Highest	Lowest	Total	Average
1	Wellington	7	15,242	6,260	80,546	11,507
2	Canterbury	7	10,065	7,000	58,565	8,366
3	Bay of Plenty	6	13,500	6,300	51,900	8,650
4	Auckland	5	16,000	6,540	47,040	9,408
5	Waikato	5	12,000	7,100	45,600	9,120
6	Hawke's Bay	6	10,866	4,000	41,893	6,982
7	Southland	5	9,000	7,000	37,482	7,496
8	Manawatu	5	8,000	4,000	31,000	6,200
9	Northland	5	14,200	3,000	31,600	6,320
10	Taranaki	5	6,500	4,000	28,000	5,600
11	Tasman	5	6,700	2,500	22,800	4,560
12	North Harbour	5	5,700	2,500	19,400	3,880
13	Otago	5	5,000	2,000	18,500	3,700
14	Counties-Manukau	5	6,500	800	16,850	3,370
	Total	76	16,000	800	530,226	6,977

Fixtures and results

Round 1

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Northland	18–10	Waikato	31 July 2008	Homeworld Stadium, Whangarei	3,000
Tasman (1 BP)	7–8	Bay of Plenty	31 July 2008	Lansdowne Park, Blenheim	2,500
Wellington (1 BP)	30–6	Hawke's Bay	1 August 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	7,148
Taranaki	20–13	North Harbour (1 BP)	1 August 2008	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	6,300
Canterbury (1 BP)	24–25	Manawatu	2 August 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	7,500
Southland (1 BP)	23–25	Otago	2 August 2008	Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill	7,500
Counties-Manukau	17–6	Auckland	3 August 2008	Growers Stadium, Pukekohe	6,500

Round 2

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
North Harbour (1 BP)	27–30	Wellington (1 BP)	7 August 2008	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	3,500
Manawatu	5–18	Southland	8 August 2008	FMG Stadium, Palmerston North	7,000
Waikato (1 BP)	14–16	Tasman	8 August 2008	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	7,100
Otago (1 BP)	13–20	Canterbury	9 August 2008	Carisbrook, Dunedin	5,000
Bay of Plenty (1 BP)	45–3	Counties-Manukau	9 August 2008	International Stadium, Rotorua	6,300
Hawke's Bay (1 BP)	43–31	Northland	9 August 2008	McLean Park, Napier	4,000
Auckland	22–6	Taranaki	10 August 2008	Eden Park, Auckland	9,500

Round 3

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Manawatu (1 BP)	38–38	Waikato (1 BP)	14 August 2008	FMG Stadium, Palmerston North	4,000
Otago	23–18	Northland (1 BP)	15 August 2008	Carisbrook, Dunedin	3,500
Wellington (1 BP)	64–7	Counties-Manukau	15 August 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	6,260
Bay of Plenty (1 BP)	38–31	North Harbour (2 BP)	16 August 2008	Baypark Stadium, Mount Maunganui	9,200
Hawke's Bay (1 BP)	16–20	Southland	16 August 2008	McLean Park, Napier	5,600
Canterbury (1 BP)	34–3	Auckland	16 August 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	9,000
Tasman	33–23	Taranaki	17 August 2008	Trafalgar Park, Nelson	5,600

Round 4

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Counties-Manukau	8–22	Otago	21 August 2008	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	1,000
Northland (1 BP)	10–15	Bay of Plenty	22 August 2008	Homeworld Stadium, Whangarei	14,200
Southland	7–26	Wellington (1 BP)	22 August 2008	Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill	7,500
Auckland	25–3	Manawatu	23 August 2008	Eden Park, Auckland	7,500
Tasman	6–41	Hawke's Bay (1 BP)	23 August 2008	Lansdowne Park, Blenheim	3,500
Taranaki	0–14	Canterbury	23 August 2008	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	6,400
North Harbour	15–10	Waikato (1 BP)	24 August 2008	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	3,800

Round 5

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Southland (1 BP)	31–8	Counties-Manukau	28 August 2008	Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill	7,000
Taranaki (1 BP)	39–21	Northland	29 August 2008	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	4,000
Otago	10–19	Hawke's Bay	29 August 2008	Carisbrook, Dunedin	4,500
Wellington (1 BP)	48–12	Bay of Plenty	30 August 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	15,242
Manawatu (1 BP)	17–20	North Harbour	30 August 2008	FMG Stadium, Palmerston North	7,000
Waikato (1 BP)	34–13	Auckland	30 August 2008	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	9,500
Canterbury (1 BP)	44–15	Tasman	31 August 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	8,000

Round 6

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Hawke's Bay	18–14	Taranaki (1 BP)	4 September 2008	McLean Park, Napier	6,300
Bay of Plenty (1 BP)	31–20	Otago	5 September 2008	Baypark Stadium, Mount Maunganui	13,500
Manawatu	13–36	Wellington (1 BP)	5 September 2008	FMG Stadium, Palmerston North	8,000
Auckland	13–9	Southland	6 September 2008	Eden Park, Auckland	7,500
Northland	10–31	Tasman (1BP)	6 September 2008	Homeworld Stadium, Whangarei	6,000
North Harbour	9–36	Canterbury (1BP)	6 September 2008	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	3,900
Waikato	20–15	Counties-Manukau (1 BP)	7 September 2008	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	12,000

Round 7

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Taranaki	14–3	Manawatu	11 September 2008	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	4,800
Bay of Plenty (1 BP)	20–25	Auckland	12 September 2008	International Stadium, Rotorua	8,000
Northland (1 BP)	3–5	Canterbury	12 September 2008	Homeworld Stadium, Whangarei	4,200
Tasman	21–21	Otago	13 September 2008	Trafalgar Park, Nelson	6,700
Southland (1BP)	43–7	North Harbour	13 September 2008	Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill	6,482
Wellington (1BP)	45–33	Waikato (1 BP)	13 September 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	13,122
Counties-Manukau	14–45	Hawke's Bay (1 BP)	14 September 2008	Growers Stadium, Pukekohe	4,850

Round 8

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Canterbury (1 BP)	37–20	Bay of Plenty	18 September 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	9,500
Tasman (1 BP)	3–6	Southland	19 September 2008	Lansdowne Park, Blenheim	4,500
Otago (2BP)	27–31	Taranaki (1BP)	19 September 2008	Carisbrook, Dunedin	2,000
Counties-Manukau (1BP)	27–14	Manawatu	20 September 2008	Growers Stadium, Pukekohe	3,700
Hawke's Bay (1BP)	24–15	Waikato	20 September 2008	McLean Park, Napier	7,800
Auckland	0–27	Wellington (1BP)	20 September 2008	Eden Park, Auckland	16,000
North Harbour (1BP)	24–35	Northland (1BP)	21 September 2008	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	2,500

Round 9

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Bay of Plenty	24–22	Southland (1BP)	25 September 2008	Baypark Stadium, Mount Maunganui	8,100
Waikato (1 BP)	39–10	Otago	26 September 2008	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	8,500
Taranaki	13–13	Counties-Manukau	26 September 2008	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	6,500
North Harbour (1BP)	22–29	Auckland (1BP)	27 September 2008	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	5,700
Wellington	26–20	Tasman (1BP)	27 September 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	14,143
Canterbury (1BP)	31–7	Hawke's Bay	27 September 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	10,065
Northland (1 BP)	45–24	Manawatu (1 BP)	28 September 2008	Homeworld Stadium, Whangarei	4,200

Round 10

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Attendance
Waikato (1BP)	45–41	Taranaki (2BP)	2 October 2008	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	8,500
Southland	6–25	Canterbury	3 October 2008	Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill	9,000
Hawke's Bay (1BP)	46–12	Bay of Plenty	3 October 2008	McLean Park, Napier	7,327
Manawatu	7–36	Tasman (1BP)	4 October 2008	FMG Stadium, Palmerston North	5,000
Counties-Manukau (1BP)	28–57	North Harbour (1 BP)	4 October 2008 (1BP)	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	800
Otago (1BP)	36–21	Wellington	4 October 2008	Carisbrook, Dunedin	3,500
Auckland	13–21	Northland	5 October 2008	Eden Park, Auckland	6,540

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	10 October - AMI Stadium, Christchurch
	Canterbury	48
					18 October – AMI Stadium, Christchurch
	Tasman	10
					Canterbury	31
	12 October - McLean Park, Napier
					Hawke's Bay	21
	Hawke's Bay	31
									25 October – Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	Waikato	28
									Canterbury	7
	11 October - Westpac Stadium, Wellington
									Wellington	6
	Wellington	50
					17 October – Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	Taranaki	30
					Wellington	28
	11 October - Baypark Stadium, Mount Maunganui
					Southland	19
	Bay of Plenty	11
	Southland	45

Quarterfinals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Crowd
Canterbury	48–10	Tasman	10 October 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	7,500
Wellington	50–30	Taranaki	11 October 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	13,164
Bay of Plenty	11–45	Southland	11 October 2008	Baypark Stadium, Mount Maunganui	6,800
Hawke's Bay	31–28	Waikato	12 October 2008	McLean Park, Napier	10,866

Semifinals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Crowd
Wellington	28–19	Southland	17 October 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	11,517
Canterbury	31–21	Hawke's Bay	18 October 2008	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	7,000

Final

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue	Crowd
Wellington	6–7	Canterbury	25 October 2008	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	21,237

See also

• Air New Zealand Cup
• Canterbury in the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup
• Heartland Championship
• 2008 Heartland Championship
• Manawatu Turbos season 2008

External links

• Air New Zealand Cup official website

References

1. Johnstone, Duncan (27 September 2008). "Northland and Tasman saved from axe". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
2. "Competitions review: new competitions information summary" (PDF). New Zealand Rugby Union. 2 June 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2009.