The 2008 Churchill Cup took place between 7 June and 21 June 2008 in what was the sixth year of the

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

. Six

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

teams took part: ,

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

, Ireland A, Scotland A, the , and an Argentinian XV.

Participation

The entry of an Argentinian XV into the competition stems from a decision by the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

not to assemble its 'A' team, the

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

, in 2008; as a consequence, the New Zealand Māori, who have taken part in the last three Churchill Cup tournaments, replaced the Juniors in the

Pacific Nations Cup The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First hel ...

and were not available for the

Format

The teams were split into two pools of three teams each. Within each pool, the teams played one another once. All six teams participated in a finals day: the two pool winners competed in the final for the Churchill Cup, the two runners-up played in a Plate final, and the two bottom-placed teams competed for a Bowl.

Venues

After the 2007 tournament, which was the first to be played outside of North America, the 2008 tournament returned to North America again. The pool games were played at three venues in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Fletcher's Fields Fletcher's Fields is a Rugby football, rugby stadium in Markham, Ontario, Canada. There are six rugby fields, but only one with a grandstand for spectators. The club house, with changerooms and a snack bar, is located in the centre of the facilit ...

Markham Markham may refer to: It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873. Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * ...

;

Twin Elm Rugby Park Twin Elm Rugby Park is a sports venue in South Nepean, Ottawa, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politica ...

Nepean Nepean may refer to: Places Australia *Nepean Bay, a bay in South Australia, **Nepean Bay Conservation Park, a protected area in South Australia, **Nepean Bay, South Australia, a locality *Nepean Highway, Victoria *Nepean Island (Norfolk Island) ...

; and

Richardson Memorial Stadium There have been three versions of George Taylor Richardson Memorial Stadium, a Canadian football stadium located on the campus of the Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. All three have been the home of the Golden Gaels/Gaels football team. ...

, Kingston. Finals Day took place at

Toyota Park SeatGeek Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, about twelve miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is the home stadium of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of the MLS Next Pr ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Fixtures

USA Pool

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Canada Pool

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Finals

Bowl Final

Plate Final

Cup Final

References

External links

Churchill Cup
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill Churchill Cup 2008 rugby union tournaments for national teams International rugby union competitions hosted by Canada International rugby union competitions hosted by the United States 2007–08 in Irish rugby union 2007–08 in English rugby union 2008 in American rugby union 2007–08 in Scottish rugby union 2008 in Argentine rugby union 2008 in Canadian rugby union