2008–09 European Challenge Cup pool stage

2008–09 European Challenge Cup pool stage
Season	2008–09 European Challenge Cup
Date	9 October 2008 – 25 January 2009
Qualifiers
Seed 1	London Irish
Seed 2	Northampton Saints
Seed 3	Saracens
Seed 4	Worcester Warriors
Seed 5	Brive
Seed 6	Newcastle Falcons
Seed 7	Connacht
Seed 8	Bourgoin
← 2007–08 (Previous) 2009–10 → (Next)

The 2008–09 European Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 13th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 9 October 2008 when RC Toulon hosted Northampton Saints and ended with two games on 25 January 2009.

Twenty teams participated in this phase of the competition; they were divided into five pools of four teams each, with each team playing the others home and away. Competition points were earned using the standard bonus point system. The five pool winners and the best three runners-up advanced to the knockout stage. These teams then competed in a single-elimination tournament that ended with the final at the Twickenham Stoop in London on 22 May 2009.

Results[]

The draw for the pool stages took place on 23 June 2008. The draw was conducted using the ERC European Ranking system which was based on the qualified teams' performances and participation in the Heineken Cup and knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup over the past four seasons.

All times are local to the game location.

Key to colours

	Winner of each pool, advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses
	Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses

Pool 1[]

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
London Irish (1)	6	6	0	0	44	3	+41	300	34	+266	5	0	29
Connacht (7)	6	4	0	2	20	19	+1	159	140	+19	3	0	19
Rovigo	6	1	0	5	7	25	−18	79	199	–120	0	1	5
Dax	6	1	0	5	5	29	−24	55	220	–165	0	0	4

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Pool 2[]

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Northampton Saints (2)	6	6	0	0	37	7	+30	278	69	+209	5	0	29
Bristol	6	3	0	3	14	21	−7	140	168	−28	1	1	14
Montpellier	6	2	0	4	10	18	−8	101	159	−58	0	1	9
RC Toulon	6	1	0	5	7	22	−15	84	207	−123	0	1	5

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Pool 3[]

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Worcester Warriors (4)	6	5	0	1	36	8	+28	255	94	+161	4	0	24
Bourgoin (8)	6	3	0	3	18	11	+7	158	115	+43	1	2	15
Petrarca Padova	6	3	0	3	11	28	−17	112	206	−94	0	1	13
București Oaks	6	1	0	5	8	26	−18	87	197	−110	0	1	5

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Pool 4[]

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Brive (5)	6	5	0	1	33	8	+25	243	89	+154	3	1	24
Newcastle Falcons (6)	6	4	0	2	24	8	+16	178	90	+88	2	1	19
Overmach Parma	6	3	0	3	19	13	+6	165	120	+45	2	2	16
El Salvador	6	0	0	6	5	52	−47	46	333	−287	0	0	0

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Pool 5[]

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Saracens (3)	6	6	0	0	20	1	+19	200	43	+157	2	0	26
Viadana	6	3	0	3	8	11	−3	120	126	−6	0	1	13
Bayonne	6	3	0	3	9	11	−2	99	122	−23	0	0	12
Mont-de-Marsan	6	0	0	0	4	18	−14	54	182	−128	0	1	1

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Seeding and runners-up[]

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/-
1	London Irish	29	44	+266
2	Northampton Saints	29	37	+209
3	Saracens	26	20	+157
4	Worcester Warriors	24	36	+161
5	Brive	24	33	+154
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/-
6	Newcastle Falcons	19	24	+88
7	Connacht	19	20	+19
8	Bourgoin	15	18	+43
–	Bristol	14	14	−28
–	Viadana	13	8	−6

See also[]

• European Challenge Cup
• 2008–09 Heineken Cup

References[]