The 2008 Absa

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

First Division season was contested from 27 June through to 10 October. The Currie Cup is an annual domestic competition for

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

teams in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

History

* The Absa

First Division, as it is today known, is the ninth season of the competition. * The competition was first contested in 2000 when it was known as the Bankfin Cup and played alongside the Bankfin Currie Cup. It later became known as the Absa Cup and, from 2004, the Absa

First Division. * The first winners of the competition were the Vodacom Blue Bulls who, just two seasons later, would go on to win the Absa

title three years in succession. * Boland Kavaliers have won the title three times. * Boland Kavaliers and the Platinum Leopards have met in the final three times – 2001, 2003 and 2006 – with the Platinum Leopards winning all three matches.

No of First Division titles

Overview

The winner of the final plays against the team that are at the bottom of the Absa

Premier Division standings and the runner-up plays the 2nd last team on the log for a chance to be promoted to the Premier Division. The

SWD Eagles The South Western Districts Eagles are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup tournament. They represent the Southern Cape (Garden Route & Klein Karoo regions) and play out of Outeniqua Park ...

won the final of the 2007 Currie Cup First Division 38 – 3 against the Mighty Elephants, and faced the Valke in the playoff matches. The Mighty Elephants faced the Boland Kavaliers in their two leg matches.

Teams

The

and the Mighty Elephants did not get promoted to the Premier Division. They both lost both their matches against the Valke and the Boland Kavaliers. * The teams are listed in alphabetical order: * Mighty Elephants from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

Border Bulldogs The Border Bulldogs is a South African professional rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup competitions. They are governed by the Border Rugby Union (BRU) and are based in East London. History The Border Ru ...

from

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

* Griffons from

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

* Platinum Leopards from

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty riv ...

* Pumas from

Witbank Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where w ...

from George

Final standings

Updated 29 September 2008:

Points Breakdown

* Four points for a win * Two points for a draw * One bonus point for a loss by seven points or less * One bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

Table Notes

* P = points * W = Won * D = Drawn * L = Lost * PF = points for * P = Points Against * PD = Points Difference (PF - PA) * TF = Tries For * TA = Tries Against * BP = Bonus points * Pts = Total Points ----

Fixtures and results

Compulsory Friendlies

Week One

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Week Two

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Week Three

! align=centre colspan=100, Bye , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , Griffons , Mighty Elephants

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

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, Pumas

Week Nine

! align=centre colspan=100, Bye , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , Griffons , Mighty Elephants

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

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Knock Out Stage

Semi finals

Finals

Promotion/relegation

Round 1

Round 2

Promotion/relegation Table

Results

* Boland Kavaliers manage to stay in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division. * Platinum Leopards are promoted to the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division. * The Griffons just lost out to the Boland Kavaliers to remain in the First Division. * The Valke are relegated to the Absa Currie Cup First Division after losing both their matches against the Platinum Leopards.

Statistics

Top 5 point scorers

Top 5 try scorers

Disciplinary Records by Team

Top 5 Disciplinary Records by Player

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:First Division

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

2008 Currie Cup