2008 Super 14 season

2008 Super 14
Countries  Australia
 South Africa
 New Zealand
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and knockout
Champions New Zealand Crusaders (7th title)
Matches played 91
Attendance 2,000,000 (21,978 per match)
Tries scored 519 (5.7 per match)
Top point scorer(s) New Zealand Stephen Donald (150)
(Chiefs)
Top try scorer(s) New Zealand Lelia Masaga (8)
(Chiefs)
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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.

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:

Table

Key to colours
     Top four teams advance to playoffs.
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
1 New Zealand Crusaders 131102369176+193852
2 Australia Waratahs 13913255186+69543
3 South Africa Sharks 13913271209+62442
4 New Zealand Hurricanes 13814310204+106741
5 South Africa Stormers 13814269211+58741
6 New Zealand Blues 13805354267+87840
7 New Zealand Chiefs 13706348349−1634
8 Australia Force 13706247278−31432
9 Australia Brumbies 13607277317−40630
10 South Africa Bulls 13607324347−23428
11 New Zealand Highlanders 133010257338−81719
12 Australia Reds 13319258323−65418
13 South Africa Cheetahs 131012255428−173913
14 South Africa 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:
FB 15 Leon MacDonald
RW 14 Kade Poki
CT 13 Casey Laulala
SF 12 Tim Bateman
LW 11 Scott Hamilton
FF 10 Dan Carter
HB 9 Andrew Ellis
N8 8 Mose Tuiali'i
OF 7 Richie McCaw
BF 6 Kieran Read
RL 5 Ali Williams
LL 4 Brad Thorn
TP 3 Greg Somerville
HK 2 Ti’i Paulo
LP 1 Wyatt Crockett
Substitutes:
HK 16 Steve Fualau
LP 17 Ben Franks
RL 18 Reuben Thorne
N8 19 Nasi Manu
HB 20 Kahn Fotuali’i
FF 21 Stephen Brett
RW 22 Sean Maitland
Coach:
New Zealand Robbie Deans
Waratahs:
FB 15 Sam Norton-Knight
RW 14 Lachlan Turner
CT 13 Rob Horne
SF 12 Tom Carter
LW 11 Lote Tuqiri
FF 10 Kurtley Beale
HB 9 Luke Burgess
N8 8 Wycliff Palu
OF 7 Phil Waugh
BF 6 Rocky Elsom
RL 5 Dean Mumm
LL 4 Dan Vickerman
TP 3 Al Baxter
HK 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
LP 1 Benn Robinson
Substitutions:
HK 16 Adam Freier
LP 17 Matt Dunning
RL 18 Will Caldwell
N8 19 Beau Robinson
HB 20 Brett Sheehan
FF 21 Matthew Carraro
FB 22 Timana Tahu
Coach:
Australia Ewen McKenzie

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

Player statistics

Leading try scorers

Top 3 try scorers (Stats)
Pos Name Tries Pld Team
1 Lelia Masaga 8 11 Chiefs
2 Ma'a Nonu 7 11 Hurricanes
3 Fetu'u Vainikolo 6 10 Highlanders
Stephen Donald 6 11 Chiefs
5 Jacques Botes 6 14 Sharks
Odwa Ndungane 6 13 Sharks
7 Ryan Kankowski 5 14 Sharks
John Roe 5 9 Reds
Peter Hynes 5 13 Reds
Andrew Ellis 5 8 Crusaders
Akona Ndungane 5 8 Bulls
Jongi Nokwe 5 10 Cheetahs
Wycliff Palu 5 10 Waratahs
Andrew Hore 5 11 Hurricanes
Dan Carter 5 11 Crusaders

Leading point scorers

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

References

  1. ↑ Geenty, Mark (2008-12-04). "Rule changes to 'supercharge Super 14'". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  2. ↑ "SANZAR embrace ELVs for S14". planetrugby.com. 2008-12-04. Archived from the original on 3 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  3. ↑ "Canes circle calendar after win over Lions". stuff.co.nz. 2008-05-03. Archived from the original on 5 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  4. 1 2 3 "Crusaders win Super 14". sarugby.com. 2008-05-31. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilhooly, Daniel (2008-05-31). "Crusaders send Robbie off in style". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  6. 1 2 "Crusaders (20) vs Waratahs (12) 74 mins". sarugby.com. 2008-05-31. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-01.

External links

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