2008 Pacific Rugby Cup

Teams

The 6 participating teams were:

• Upolu Samoa and Savaii Samoa from Samoa
• Fiji Warriors and Fiji Barbarians from Fiji
• Tau'uta Reds and Tautahi Gold from Tonga

Format and schedule

The teams played a single round robin (home or away) series. The two top teams in the final standings met in the grand final match, with the first ranking team awarded home advantage.

The 2008 tournament followed the completion of Fiji's Colonial Cup, Samoa's National Provincial Championship and Tonga's Provincial Championship and provided the coaches of the three national teams with a competitive player development pathway just ahead of the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2008.

Upolu Samoa began its title defence away to 2007 beaten finalists Tau'uta Reds in Nuku'alofa on April 19, while Fiji Warriors faced Tautahi Gold in Lautoka and 2006 champions Savaii Samoa played Fiji Barbarians in Apia. Four further rounds followed on consecutive weekends before the top two ranked teams contested the Grand Final on May 24.

Table

:{| class="wikitable" |- !width=165|Team !width=40|Played !width=40|Won !width=40|Drawn !width=40|Lost !width=40|For !width=40|Against !width=40|Point Difference !width=40|Bonus Points !width=40|Points |- bgcolor=#ccffcc align=center |5||4||0||1||90||49||+41||1||17 |- bgcolor=#ccffcc align=center |5||3||0||2||97||75||+22||1||13 |- align=center |5||3||0||2||81||81||0||1||13 |- align=center |5||2||0||3||72||90||-18||2||10 |- align=center |5||2||0||3||84||95||-11||1||9 |- align=center |5||1||0||4||70||104||-34||3||7

|- bgcolor="#ffffff" align=center

|} :{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:center; line-height:100%; font-size:100%; width:60%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="border:0px" |Competition rules |- 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

Classification: Teams standings are calculated as follows: Most log points accumulated from all matches Most log points accumulated in matches between tied teams Highest difference between points scored for and against accumulated from all matches Most points scored accumulated from all matches |}

Match results

Round One

date = 2008-04-18 | home = Fiji Warriors | score = 21-19 | away = Tautahi Gold | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Churchill Park, Lautoka}}

date = | home = Savai'i Samoa | score = 17-13 | away = Fiji Barbarians | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Apia Park, Apia}}

date = 2008-04-19 | home = Tau'uta Reds | score = 12-20 | away = Upolu Samoa | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, Nukualofa}}

Round Two

date = 2008-04-25 | home = Fiji Barbarians| score = 5-22 | away = Upolu Samoa | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = National Stadium, Suva}}

date = 2008-04-26 | home = Savai'i Samoa | score = 20-18 | away = Fiji Warriors | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Prince Edwards Park, Savaii}}

date = | home = Tau'uta Reds | score = 11-21 | away = Tautahi Gold | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, Nukualofa}}

Round Three

date = 2008-05-02 | home = Upolu Samoa| score = 13-8 | away = Fiji Warriors| homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Apia Park, Apia}}

date = | home = Tautahi Gold | score = 27-17 | away = Savai'i Samoa | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, Nukualofa}}

date = 2008-05-03 | home = Fiji Barbarians | score = 25-24 | away = Tau'uta Reds | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Lawaqa Park, Sigatoka}}

Round Four

date = 2008-05-09 | home = Fiji Warriors| score = 16-23 | away = Tau'uta Reds| homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Prince Charles Park, Nadi}}

date = | home = Tautahi Gold | score = 20-0 | away = Fiji Barbarians | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, Nukualofa}}

date = 2008-05-10 | home = Upolu Samoa | score = 9-14 | away = Savai'i Samoa | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Apia Park, Apia}}

Round Five

date = 2008-05-16 | home = Tau'uta Reds| score = 14-13 | away = Savai'i Samoa| homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, Nukualofa}}

date = 2008-05-17 | home = Fiji Warriors | score = 7-29 | away = Fiji Barbarians | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Subrail Park, Labasa}}

date = | home = Upolu Samoa | score = 26-10 | away = Tautahi Gold | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Apia Park, Apia}}

Final

date = 2008-05-24 | home = Upolu Samoa| score = 3-11 | away = Tautahi Gold | homescore = | awayscore = | stadium = Apia Park, Apia}}

References