The 2009 Churchill Cup took place between June 6 and June 21, 2009, marking the seventh 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 ...

. For the first time in the tournament's history, all rounds were held in the United States. This was done in an effort to reduce the cost of the tournament after the discontinued sponsorship by Barclays and to keep the tournament from being suspended for a year. 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, the , Argentina Jaguars, and for the first time in the tournament, the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

national team. Tickets for the event went on sale to USA Rugby members on April 2, 2009, and general sales tickets went on sale on April 24, 2009. The matches were broadcast live on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

in the UK and Setanta Sports North America in the US.

Winners

The Main Cup was won by Ireland A (who beat the

in the Cup Final), the Plate Competition was won by the Argentina Jaguars (who defeated in the Final), and the Bowl Competition was won by the (who beat

Format

The teams played in a round-robin format between two pools to decide the elimination matches which took place on June 20, 2009. All six teams participated on the finals day: the two pool winners competed in the Cup Final, the two runners-up played in a Plate Final, and the two bottom-placed teams met in the Bowl Final.

Venues

After the 2008 tournament, which was played both in Canada and the United States, in 2009 all rounds of the tournament as well as the Finals Day were played around the

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

area which is the future home for the tournament for the next three years. The first three days of round-robin play were at the modern, purpose-built rugby stadium

Infinity Park Infinity Park is a stadium in the Denver enclave of Glendale, Colorado, and was formerly the unofficial home venue of the United States national rugby union team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,000 people. It opened in 2007, at a cost of ...

Glendale, Colorado The City of Glendale is a home rule municipality located in an exclave of Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 4,613 at the 2020 United States Census. Glendale is an enclave of the City and County of Denver and i ...

on the south side of Denver. The finals were held at

Dick's Sporting Goods Park Dick's Sporting Goods Park, also known as DSG Park, is a soccer-specific stadium located in Commerce City, Colorado that is home to the Colorado Rapids men's professional soccer team. The stadium seats up to 18,061 people for soccer matches, bu ...

Commerce City The City of Commerce City is a home rule municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 62,418 at the 2020 United States Census, a 35.95% increase since the 2010 United States Census. Commerce City is the ...

, which is home to Denver's

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

team, the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

Tables

Pool A

Pool B

Fixtures and results

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Finals

Bowl Final

Plate Final

Cup Final

References

External links

Churchill Cup Official Site2009 Tournament Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2009 rugby union tournaments for national teams Sports competitions in Denver International rugby union competitions hosted by the United States 2008–09 in Irish rugby union 2008–09 in English rugby union 2009 in Canadian rugby union 2009 in Argentine rugby union 2009 in American rugby union June 2009 sports events in the United States 2009 in sports in Colorado 2000s in Denver 2009 in Georgian sport