2008 Super 14 season

The 2008 Super 14 season started in February 2008 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 31 May, when the Crusaders won their seventh Super Rugby title with a 20–12 victory over the Waratahs in front of the Crusaders' home fans at AMI Stadium. The 2008 season was the third of the expansion, which led to the name change to the Super 14. The schedule, which covered 3½ months, featured a total of 94 matches, with each team playing one full round robin against the 13 other teams, two semi-finals and a final. Every team received one bye over the 14 rounds.

2008 Super 14
Countries Australia
 South Africa
 New Zealand
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and knockout
Champions Crusaders (7th title)
Matches played91
Tries scored519 (5.7 per match)
Top point scorer(s) Stephen Donald (150)
(Chiefs)
Top try scorer(s) Lelia Masaga (8)
(Chiefs)
← 2007 (Previous) (Next) 2009 →

Introduction of Experimental law variations

The 2008 competition is currently the highest level competition to trial any of the International Rugby Board's (IRB) Experimental law variations (ELVs). The laws had been trialled in various competitions in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The highest level competition the laws had previously been introduced to was the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship. The introduction of the laws for the 2008 season was approved by the competition's governing body, SANZAR, at a meeting on 4 December 2007.[1]

SANZAR decided not to adopt all the ELVs, and decided to adopt the following:

  • The corner posts are moved so that they are outside the junction of the touchline and goal-line. A player will also not be in touch if they are touching the corner post unless they are also touching either the touchline, or ground over the touchline.
  • A ball can be thrown backwards on a quick throw-in rather than having to be thrown straight.
  • The offside line will now occur immediately once a tackle is made.
  • At the breakdown the Scrum-half (half-back) cannot be touched unless they are touching the ball.
  • During a scrum, with the exception of forwards in the scrum, and each team's scrum-half, the offside line will now be 5 metres behind the hindmost foot of a scrum.
  • With the exception of offside, not entering the breakdown through the gate, and foul-play, the punishment will be a free kick.[2]

Table
Key to colours
     Top four teams advance to playoffs.
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
1 Crusaders 131102369176+193852
2 Waratahs 13913255186+69543
3 Sharks 13913271209+62442
4 Hurricanes 13814310204+106741
5 Stormers 13814269211+58741
6 Blues 13805354267+87840
7 Chiefs 13706348349−1634
8 Force 13706247278−31432
9 Brumbies 13607277317−40630
10 Bulls 13607324347−23428
11 Highlanders 133010257338−81719
12 Reds 13319258323−65418
13 Cheetahs 131012255428−173913
14 Lions 132110206367−161212

Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Finals

Semi finals

Grand final

The final of the 2008 Super 14 season took place on 31 May 2008 at AMI Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. The match was hosted by the Crusaders who defeated the New South Wales Waratahs by 20 points to 12.

The match
First half

The Crusaders scored the first points of the game when fly-half Dan Carter kicked a penalty in the fourth minute, giving the Crusaders a 3–0 lead.[4] The Waratahs scored their first points of the match when Kurtley Beale kicked the ball across field, and Waratah's winger Lachlan Turner caught the ball to score a try.[5] The attempted conversion by Beale was unsuccessful, leaving the Waratahs with a 5-3 lead.

The next score occurred in the 25th minute when Waratahs flanker Phil Waugh intercepted a pass from Dan Carter. Waugh passed to Turner who chipped the ball and then collected to score his second try. Beale's conversion was successful and the Waratahs extended their lead to 12–3.[5] Carter kicked a penalty in the 32nd minute to reduce the Waratahs lead to 12–6.[6] The final score before half time came in the 38th minute when Crusaders No. 8 Mose Tuiali'i scored in the right hand corner.[5] Carter's conversion was unsuccessful, and the half ended with the Waratahs leading by 12 points to 11.[6]

Second half

In the 46th minute the Crusaders took the lead again by 14 points to 12 via a Dan Carter penalty.[4] The Crusaders looked to have scored their second try in the 56th minute when prop Wyatt Crockett landed on a loose ball in the Waratahs in-goal area, but play was taken back 60 metres after touch judge Cobus Wessels reported that Crusaders lock Brad Thorn had thrown a punch. The try was disallowed and the Crusaders penalised. Thorn was given a yellow card and sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.[5]

Despite having an extra man for the next ten minutes, the Waratahs were unable to score,[4] and were further hampered by the loss of Kurtley Beale to injury. In the 70th minute Carter kicked a drop-goal to take the Crusaders lead to 17–12, and four minutes later kicked a penalty to further extend the lead to 20–12. With only minutes remaining Crusaders winger Scott Hamilton dropped the ball only metres from the Waratahs try-line. The score remained at 20-12, and the Crusaders won their seventh Super rugby title.[5]

Match details
Crusaders:
FB15Leon MacDonald
RW14Kade Poki
CT13Casey Laulala
SF12Tim Bateman
LW11Scott Hamilton
FF10Dan Carter
HB9Andrew Ellis
N88Mose Tuiali'i
OF7Richie McCaw
BF6Kieran Read
RL5Ali Williams
LL4Brad Thorn
TP3Greg Somerville
HK2Ti’i Paulo
LP1Wyatt Crockett
Substitutes:
HK16Steve Fualau
LP17Ben Franks
RL18Reuben Thorne
N819Nasi Manu
HB20Kahn Fotuali'i
FF21Stephen Brett
RW22Sean Maitland
Coach:
Robbie Deans
Waratahs:
FB15Sam Norton-Knight
RW14Lachlan Turner
CT13Rob Horne
SF12Tom Carter
LW11Lote Tuqiri
FF10Kurtley Beale
HB9Luke Burgess
N88Wycliff Palu
OF7Phil Waugh
BF6Rocky Elsom
RL5Dean Mumm
LL4Dan Vickerman
TP3Al Baxter
HK2Tatafu Polota-Nau
LP1Benn Robinson
Substitutions:
HK16Adam Freier
LP17Matt Dunning
RL18Will Caldwell
N819Beau Robinson
HB20Brett Sheehan
FF21Matthew Carraro
FB22Timana Tahu
Coach:
Ewen McKenzie

Touch judges:
Craig Joubert
Cobus Wessels
Television match official:
Shaun Veldsman

Player statistics

Leading try scorers
Top 3 try scorers (Stats)
Pos Name Tries Pld Team
1 Lelia Masaga 811Chiefs
2 Ma'a Nonu 711Hurricanes
3 Fetu'u Vainikolo 610Highlanders
Stephen Donald 611Chiefs
5 Jacques Botes 614Sharks
Odwa Ndungane 613Sharks
7 Ryan Kankowski 514Sharks
John Roe 59Reds
Peter Hynes 513Reds
Andrew Ellis 58Crusaders
Akona Ndungane 58Bulls
Jongi Nokwe 510Cheetahs
Wycliff Palu 510Waratahs
Andrew Hore 511Hurricanes
Dan Carter 511Crusaders

Leading point scorers
Top 3 overall point scorers (Stats)
Pos Name Points Pld Team
1 Stephen Donald 143 (6T, 28C, 19P)12Chiefs
2 Nick Evans 136 (4T, 22C, 23P)11Blues
3 Dan Carter 112 (5T, 24C, 13P)8Crusaders

Attendances
TeamMain StadiumCapacityTotal AttendanceAverage Attendance% Capacity
BluesEden Park50,000
ChiefsWaikato Stadium25,800
HurricanesWestpac Stadium34,500
CrusadersJade Stadium36,500
HighlandersCarisbrook29,000
RedsSuncorp Stadium52,500
BrumbiesCanberra Stadium25,011
Western ForceSubiaco Oval43,500
WaratahsSydney Football Stadium44,000
SharksABSA Stadium52,000
BullsLoftus Versfeld51,762
LionsEllis Park62,567
CheetahsFree State Stadium46,000
StormersNewlands Stadium51,900
gollark: Also, universities are horribly expensive in the UK, even though meanwhile on the other side of the Scottish border they manage to provide free tuition, which is, er, bad.
gollark: So could most things.
gollark: As someone in the school system, I don't like it.
gollark: Isn't that merit goods and not inelastic demand?
gollark: It'll finally be able to negotiate better trade deals with aliens!

References
  1. Geenty, Mark (4 December 2008). "Rule changes to 'supercharge Super 14'". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  2. "SANZAR embrace ELVs for S14". planetrugby.com. 4 December 2008. Archived from the original on 3 November 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  3. "Canes circle calendar after win over Lions". stuff.co.nz. 3 May 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  4. "Crusaders win Super 14". sarugby.com. 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  5. Gilhooly, Daniel (31 May 2008). "Crusaders send Robbie off in style". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  6. "Crusaders (20) vs Waratahs (12) 74 mins". sarugby.com. 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.