2008 Pacific Rugby Cup

The IRB Pacific Rugby Cup 2008 was the third edition of the annual rugby union club competition. First held in 2006, the 2008 edition, like its predecessors, featured representative teams from the three Pacific rugby unions - Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

The 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

The teams participated in a home and away series culminating in a Grand Final between the first (Upolu Samoa) and second-placed (Tautahi Gold) teams in the final standings, with the first ranking team awarded home advantage.

Tautahi Gold beat Upolu Samoa 11 points to 3 in the Grand Final match to win the 2008 IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, becoming the first Tongan team, and the first team outside of Samoa, to win the trophy.

Schedule

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 Savai’i 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.

Full Schedule

Round One

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-04-18
home = Fiji Warriors
score = 21-19
away = Tautahi Gold
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Churchill Park, Lautoka

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date =
home = Savai'i Samoa
score = 17-13
away = Fiji Barbarians
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Apia Park, Apia

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-04-19
home = Tau'uta Reds
score = 12-20
away = Upolu Samoa
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, NukuOkinaalofa

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Round Two

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-04-25
home = Fiji Barbarians
score = 5-22
away = Upolu Samoa
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = National Stadium, Suva

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

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date =
home = Tau'uta Reds
score = 11-21
away = Tautahi Gold
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, NukuOkinaalofa

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Round Three

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-05-02
home = Upolu Samoa
score = 13-8
away = Fiji Warriors
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Apia Park, Apia

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date =
home = Tautahi Gold
score = 27-17
away = Savai'i Samoa
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, NukuOkinaalofa

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

----Round Four

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

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date =
home = Tautahi Gold
score = 20-0
away = Fiji Barbarians
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, NukuOkinaalofa

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-05-10
home = Upolu Samoa
score = 9-14
away = Savai'i Samoa
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Apia Park, Apia

----

Round Five

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-05-16
home = Tau'uta Reds
score = 14-13
away = Savai'i Samoa
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Teufaiva Stadium, NukuOkinaalofa

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-05-17
home = Fiji Warriors
score = 7-29
away = Fiji Barbarians
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Subrail Park, Labasa

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date =
home = Upolu Samoa
score = 26-10
away = Tautahi Gold
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Apia Park, Apia

----

Final

rugbyscores
bg = #eeeeee
date = 2008-05-24
home = Upolu Samoa
score = 3-11
away = Tautahi Gold
homescore =
awayscore =
stadium = Apia Park, Apia

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Table

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