2008 Heartland Championship

	Qualified for Meads Cup
	Qualified for Lochore Cup

The 2008 Heartland Championship was a provincial rugby union competition involving 12 teams from New Zealand split into two pools. Matches started on Saturday 23 August 2008 and ended with the final on 25 October.^[1]

The 2008 season was to be the last in its current format. On 11 August 2008 the New Zealand Rugby Union announced that Tasman and Northland would be the two teams relegated from the Air New Zealand Cup after the completion of the 2008 season. Both teams failed to meet criteria which included financial stability, population, player training and development, playing history, and administration. This might have meant that the Tasman union would have been split into its constituent Nelson Bays and Marlborough unions, and that the Heartland Championship would have needed to accommodate three further teams. On 26 September 2008 the New Zealand Rugby Union rescinded this decision.

Wanganui won the Meads Cup and Poverty Bay won the Lochore Cup. Each team has reached the respective cup final in all three years of the Heartland Championship. Poverty Bay has won each Lochore Cup, while 2008 was Wanganui's first Meads Cup championship.

Standings

The 12 teams were split into two pools, with the top 3 from each pool after 5 rounds advancing to the Meads Cup round, whilst the bottom 3 from each pool played for the Lochore Cup.

Pool A

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	North Otago	5	4	0	1	123	75	+48	2	0	18
2	West Coast	5	3	0	2	110	87	+23	2	2	16
3	Buller	5	3	1	1	83	82	+1	0	1	15
4	Horowhenua-Kapiti	5	1	2	2	107	125	-18	3	0	11
5	Wairarapa Bush	5	1	0	4	116	147	-31	3	3	10
6	South Canterbury	5	1	1	3	93	116	-23	1	1	8

Pool B

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	BP1	Pts
1	Wanganui	5	5	0	240	53	+187	5	25
2	Mid Canterbury	5	4	1	171	96	+75	4	20
3	King Country	5	3	2	119	96	+23	2	14
4	Poverty Bay	5	2	3	117	90	+27	2	10
5	Thames Valley	5	1	4	64	171	-107	0	4
6	East Coast	5	0	5	15	220	-205	0	0

Table notes

Pos = Table Position
Pld = Played
W = Win (Worth 4 points)
D = Draw (Worth 2 points)
L = Loss (Worth 0 points)
PF = For (Total points scored)
PA = Against (Total points scored against)
PD = Points difference
BP1 = Bonus Point (1 Bonus Point will be awarded to any team that scores 4 tries or more regardless of win/loss/draw.)
BP2 = Bonus Point (1 Bonus Point will be awarded to the losing side if the loss is by 7 points or less.)
Pts = Progressive points tally

NB:

It is possible to receive 2 bonus points in a loss.
In the event of a tie on points, the higher ranked team is decided on the basis of who won when they met in pool play. If they remain tied, then it is decided by points differential.

Fixtures and results

Round 1

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue	Attendance
A	Wairarapa Bush (2 BP)	31-37	West Coast (1 BP)	23 August 2008	Masterton	1,000
A	Buller	18-17	South Canterbury (1 BP)	23 August 2008	Westport	400
A	North Otago (1 BP)	32-11	Horowhenua-Kapiti	23 August 2008	Oamaru	750
B	Mid Canterbury (1 BP)	49-20	Thames Valley	23 August 2008	Ashburton	200
B	King Country	18-0	Poverty Bay	23 August 2008	Te Kuiti	550
B	Wanganui (1 BP)	71-6	East Coast	23 August 2008	Wanganui	1,100

Round 2

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue	Attendance
A	West Coast (1 BP)	9-15	North Otago	30 August 2008	Greymouth	300
A	Buller	16-16	Horowhenua-Kapiti	30 August 2008	Westport	500
A	South Canterbury	19-27	Wairarapa Bush (1 BP)	30 August 2008	Timaru	500
B	Thames Valley	0-43	Wanganui (1 BP)	30 August 2008	Paeroa	300
B	King Country (1 BP)	32-3	East Coast	30 August 2008	Taupo	800
B	Poverty Bay	13-26	Mid Canterbury (1 BP)	30 August 2008	Gisborne	550

Round 3

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
A	Horowhenua-Kapiti (1BP)	13-15	West Coast	6 September 2008	Paraparaumu
A	North Otago	10-18	South Canterbury	6 September 2008	Oamaru
A	Wairarapa Bush (1BP)	8-11	Buller	6 September 2008	Masterton
B	East Coast	3-20	Thames Valley	6 September 2008	Ruatoria
B	Mid Canterbury (1BP)	32-17	King Country	6 September 2008	Ashburton
B	Wanganui (1BP)	36-16	Poverty Bay	6 September 2008	Wanganui

This was the first time Buller had beaten Wairarapa Bush at Masterton in the history of the two unions' meetings.

Round 4

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
A	Buller	18 - 22	North Otago	13 September 2008	Westport
A	South Canterbury	8 - 30	West Coast (1BP)	13 September 2008	Timaru
A	Wairarapa Bush (2BP)	31 - 36	Horowhenua-Kapiti (1BP)	13 September 2008	Masterton
B	Poverty Bay (1BP)	43 - 10	Thames Valley	13 September 2008	Gisborne
B	King Country	19 - 47	Wanganui (1BP)	13 September 2008	Te Kuiti
B	Mid Canterbury (1BP)	52 - 3	East Coast	13 September 2008	Ashburton

Round 5

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue	Attendance
A	West Coast (1BP)	19 - 20	Buller	20 September 2008	Greymouth	600
A	North Otago (1BP)	44 - 19	Wairarapa Bush	20 September 2008	Oamaru	600
A	Horowhenua-Kapiti (1BP)	31 - 31	South Canterbury (1BP)	20 September 2008	Levin	500
B	Thames Valley	14 - 33	King Country (1BP)	20 September 2008	Te Aroha	600
B	Wanganui (1BP)	43 - 12	Mid Canterbury	20 September 2008	Wanganui	1,500
B	East Coast	0 - 43	Poverty Bay (1BP)	20 September 2008	Ruatoria	500

Buller wins the 2008 Rundle Cup

Meads and Lochore Cups

Standings

Lochore Cup Pool

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Poverty Bay	8	4	0	4	196	121	+75	3	0	23
2	Horowhenua-Kapiti	8	3	2	3	234	174	+60	5	0	21
3	Wairarapa Bush	8	3	0	5	202	194	+8	4	3	19
4	South Canterbury	8	3	1	4	181	167	+14	2	2	19
5	Thames Valley	8	1	0	7	97	255	-158	0	0	4
6	East Coast	8	0	0	8	50	306	-356	0	0	0

Meads Cup Pool

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP1	BP2	Pts
1	Wanganui	8	8	0	0	353	78	+275	7	0	39
2	Mid Canterbury	8	7	0	1	225	129	+96	5	0	33
3	North Otago	8	5	0	3	169	117	+52	3	1	24
4	West Coast	8	3	0	5	122	146	-24	2	3	21
5	Buller	8	4	1	3	135	164	-29	0	1	19
6	King Country	8	3	0	5	157	172	-15	3	1	16

Round 6

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue	Attendance
M	Wanganui (1BP)	42 - 10	Buller	27 September 2008	Wanganui	1,200
M	North Otago (1BP)	27 - 8	King Country	27 September 2008	Oamaru	300
M	Mid Canterbury	7 - 5	West Coast (1BP)	27 September 2008	Ashburton	200
L	Horowhenua-Kapiti (1BP)	73 - 7	East Coast	27 September 2008	Levin	700
L	Poverty Bay	19 - 5	South Canterbury	27 September 2008	Gisborne	500
L	Wairarapa Bush	11 - 0	Thames Valley	27 September 2008	Masterton	400

Round 7

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
M	West Coast	7 - 52	Wanganui (1BP)	4 October 2008	Westport
M	North Otago (1BP)	11 - 15	Mid Canterbury	4 October 2008	Oamaru
M	Buller	25 - 8	King Country	4 October 2008	Westport
L	Thames Valley	6 - 36	Horowhenua-Kapiti (1BP)	4 October 2008
L	Poverty Bay	24 - 8	Wairarapa Bush	4 October 2008	Gisborne
L	East Coast	5 - 46	South Canterbury (1BP)	4 October 2008	Ruatoria

Round 8

Pool	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Pool	Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
M	Wanganui	19 - 8	North Otago	11 October 2008	Wanganui
M	Mid Canterbury (1BP)	32 - 17	Buller	11 October 2008	Ashburton
M	King Country (2BP)	22 - 24	West Coast	11 October 2008	Taupo
L	Horowhenua-Kapiti	18 - 36	Poverty Bay (1BP)	11 October 2008	Levin
L	South Canterbury (1BP)	37 - 27	Thames Valley	11 October 2008	Timaru
L	Wairarapa Bush (1BP)	67 - 23	East Coast	11 October 2008	Masterton

Knockout stage

Lochore Cup

Semi-finals		Final

18 October – Gisborne

Poverty Bay	43
		25 October – Gisborne
South Canterbury	30
		Poverty Bay	26
18 October – Levin
		Horowhenua-Kapiti	5
Horowhenua-Kapiti	37

Wairarapa Bush	17

Semifinals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
Poverty Bay	43 - 30	South Canterbury	18 October 2008	Gisborne
Horowhenua-Kapiti	37 - 17	Wairarapa Bush	18 October 2008	Levin

Final

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
Poverty Bay	26 - 5	Horowhenua-Kapiti	25 October 2008	Gisborne

Meads Cup

Semi-finals		Final

18 October – Wanganui

Wanganui	40
		25 October – Wanganui
West Coast	18
		Wanganui	27
18 October – Ashburton
		Mid Canterbury	12
Mid Canterbury	38

North Otago	24

Semifinals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
Wanganui	40 - 18	West Coast	18 October 2008	Wanganui
Mid Canterbury	38 - 24	North Otago	18 October 2008	Ashburton

Final

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Home	Score	Away	Date	Venue
Wanganui	27 - 12	Mid Canterbury	25 October 2008	Wanganui

References

↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2008.

External links

Official Website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2008.

Heartland Championship
Teams	Buller East Coast Horowhenua-Kapiti King Country Mid Canterbury North Otago Poverty Bay South Canterbury Thames Valley Wairarapa Bush Wanganui West Coast
Seasons	2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Cups	Meads Cup Lochore Cup
Predecessor	National Provincial Championship

Rugby union schedule for 2008
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
H. Cup	Six Nations Championship		Heineken Cup		Mid-Year Tests				H. Cup	End of year Int'ls	H. Cup
Guinness Premiership								Guinness Premiership
Celtic League								Celtic League
Top 14							Top 14
			Shute Shield
					Currie Cup
Sevens											Sevens
			Pacific Rugby Cup		Churchill Cup	Air New Zealand Cup
	Super 14				Pacific Nations Cup	Tri Nations

2008 Heartland Championship

Standings

Pool A

Pool B

Table notes

Fixtures and results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Meads and Lochore Cups

Standings

Lochore Cup Pool

Meads Cup Pool

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Knockout stage

Lochore Cup

Semifinals

Final

Meads Cup

Semifinals

Final

See also

References

External links