Mens Competition

The tournament structure for the Bingham Cup 2008 as determined by the IGRAB Bingham Cup Liaison Committee is as follows:
Pool Play will consist of two tiers, Upper and Lower.

The Upper tier consists mostly of the teams that self-selected into the Cup and Plate Divisions. The Lower tier consists mostly of those teams that self-selected into the Bowl Division.

Most of the placement within pools will be by random draw, although some protection is provided to the top finishing teams in each Division at the 06 Cup. At the end of the tournament we will award four trophies: The Bingham Cup, the Plate, the Bowl and the Shield. The named order of these trophies reflects their traditional ranking within rugby union tournaments and represents a change from previous year's rankings.

The Cup
The top eight teams from the Upper tier will break out of pool play into the Cup Division with a standard bracket.

The Plate/Bowl Division
The bottom eight from the Upper tier and the top eight teams from the Lower tier will break out into a sixteen team Plate/Bowl Division. As a 'reward' for having played in the Upper tier, the Upper tier teams will have the 1 through 8 seeds in that division, and and the Lower tier teams will have the 9 through 16 seeds.

The Plate
The eight winners of the first round of play in the Plate/Bowl Division will advance to compete for the Plate.

The Bowl
The eight losers of that round will advance to compete for the Bowl.

The Shield
Lastly, the bottom eight teams from the Lower Tier at the end of pool play will advance to play for the Shield.

Womens Competition

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the womens tournament due to lack of interest.