The 2008–09 Anglo-Welsh Cup, known as the EDF Energy Cup for sponsorship reasons, was 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 Celtic 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
Group B
Group C
Group D
This was the Scarlets' last competitive match at Stradey Park, home to Llanelli RFC since 1879. The new Parc y Scarlets opened in November.
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Olly MorganRW 14 Matthew WatkinsOC 13 James Simpson-DanielIC 12 Anthony AllenLW 11 Mark FosterFH 10 Ryan LambSH 9 Rory LawsonN8 8 Gareth Delve (c)OF 7 Akapusi QeraBF 6 Luke NarrawayRL 5 Alex BrownLL 4 Will JamesTP 3 Greg SomervilleHK 2 Olivier AzamLP 1 Nick WoodReplacements:HK 16 Scott LawsonPR 17 Carlos NietoLK 18 Marco BortolamiFL 19 Andy HazellSH 20 Gareth CooperFH 21 Olly BarkleyWG 22 Charlie SharplesCoach: Dean Ryan
FB 15 Ben BlairRW 14 Leigh HalfpennyOC 13 Tom ShanklinIC 12 Jamie RobertsLW 11 Tom JamesFH 10 Nicky RobinsonSH 9 Jason SpiceN8 8 Xavier RushOF 7 Martyn WilliamsBF 6 Maama MolitikaRL 5 Paul Tito (c)LL 4 Bradley DaviesTP 3 Taufaʻao FiliseHK 2 Gareth WilliamsLP 1 Gethin JenkinsReplacements:PR 16 John YappHK 17 Rhys ThomasLK 18 Deiniol JonesFL 19 Andy PowellSH 20 Richie ReesFH 21 Ceri SweeneyFB 22 Gareth ThomasCoach: Dai Young
See also 2008–09 English Premiership (rugby union) 2008–09 Celtic League
External links