2008-09 EDF Energy Cup

The 2008-09 EDF Energy Cup is the 38th season of England's national rugby union cup competition, and the fourth to follow the recently adopted Anglo-Welsh format.

As in the previous two years, the competition is contested between the twelve teams of the Guinness Premiership and the four Welsh regions from the Magners League. The sixteen teams are arranged into four pools, with one Welsh and three English teams in each. Teams are randomly drawn into groups, as opposed to previous years when English sides were grouped according to proximity to one another. Each team plays the other team from their group only once, meaning that two teams in each group face two away games, whereas the other two teams have two home games.

Group stage

In the pool matches, teams receive:
* Four points for a win
* Two points for a draw
* A bonus point for scoring four or more tries, regardless of the match result
* A bonus point for losing by seven or fewer points

The winner of each pool advances to the semi-finals, at which stage a draw takes place to determine the teams that will play each other. The winners of the semi-final advance to the final to determine the competition winner; no "third place final" is played.

Group A

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-05
time = 15:00
home = Worcester Warriors
score = 22 – 5
report = [http://www.edfenergycup.com/23545_25027.php Report]
away = London Irish
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Sixways Stadium, Worcester
attendance = 7,433
referee = ----

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-05
time = 15:05
home = Ospreys
score = 24 – 23
report = [http://www.edfenergycup.com/23545_25031.php Report]
away = Harlequins
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Liberty Stadium, Swansea
attendance = 8,057
referee = ----

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-25
time = 15:00
home = Harlequins
score =
report =
away = London Irish
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Twickenham Stoop, Twickenham
attendance =
referee = ----

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-26
time = 15:05
home = Ospreys
score =
report =
away = Worcester Warriors
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Liberty Stadium, Swansea
attendance =
referee = ----

Group D

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-04
time = 15:00
home = Northampton Saints
score = 30 – 17
report = [http://www.edfenergycup.com/9136_25025.php Report]
away = Bristol Rugby
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
attendance = 11,301
referee = ----

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-05
time = 15:00
home = Saracens
score = 17 – 26
report = [http://www.edfenergycup.com/9136_25029.php Report]
away = Llanelli Scarlets
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Vicarage Road, Watford
attendance = 6,068
referee = ----

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-24
time = 19:05
home = Llanelli Scarlets
score =
report =
away = Bristol Rugby
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Stradey Park, Llanelli
attendance =
referee =

* This will be the Scarlets' last competitive match at Stradey Park, home to Llanelli RFC since 1879. The new Parc y Scarlets will open in November.----

rugbybox
date = 2008-10-26
time = 15:00
home = Saracens
score =
report =
away = Northampton Saints
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Vicarage Road, Watford
attendance =
referee = ----

External links

* [http://www.edfenergycup.com/ EDF Energy Cup Homepage]
* [http://www.edfenergycup.com/live Live Scores from EDF Energy Cup Site]