RICCARTON KNIGHTS AND PAPANUI TIGERS SEAL MOU ARRANGEMENT FOR 2025
Riccarton Knights and Papanui Tigers have entered a Memorandum of Understanding for the 2025 Canterbury Rugby League season.
Clubs competing in the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership are required to also field a team in the CRL Canterbury Cup. This MoU allows the Tigers to retain a presence in the second-tier competition as the Knights’ premier reserves affiliate.
Papanui made the Canterbury Cup semi-finals in 2024 after partnering with Greymouth Greyhounds, who made their premiership debut last season but will field teams in the top two grades this year. Meanwhile, Riccarton is set to enter teams in the premiership and the third-tier Division One competition in 2025.
Tigers players will be available for the Knights’ premiers team to call upon, and vice versa.
“CRL congratulates Riccarton Knights and Papanui Tigers on this MoU,” Canterbury Rugby League CEO Malcolm Humm says.
“We recognise that there will be times when clubs can’t secure the numbers required to field two men’s senior teams. Often this may only be for one season whilst their youth grades progress through to senior status.
“With the requirement of clubs who play in the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership to have a premier reserves team, we don’t want to see clubs removed from the top grade because they don’t have a reserve grade team.
“The agreement between Riccarton and Papanui remedies this potential situation, whilst also providing a stepping stone for the Tigers to get back to full men’s premiers status.”
Riccarton’s depth has been encumbered with players unavailable this season for a variety of reasons, prompting this temporary measure.
Knights president Shane Tamatea says taking up the option to field teams in the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership and Division One – instead of the Canterbury Cup – makes sense on multiple fronts.
“Our numbers have been pretty light at training. When Papanui approached us, we went back and thought about it [and decided] it could only be beneficial for both clubs,” Tamatea explains.
“It’s keeps Papanui in premier footy and gives their players with the ambition an opportunity to play at a higher level [in the premiership] with Riccarton.
“We’ve still got a good core of premier players of our own, but there’s definitely an opportunity for those Papanui boys to push for a position. For us, we have to field that Div One side for any overflow of players.
“Papanui have been with the Greyhounds and two years ago we were with Burnham – logistically [neither arrangement] really fit in with players having to travel long distances to training, or not getting to train together.
“We’ve already started training together – a few of their boys have come over to us – and we’ve sorted that we’ll be training at alternate venues during the season. I think that’s the only way to do it to make it work, and once the boys bond together it can only add to that.”
Tigers president Kanei Johnson echoes his Knights counterpart’s sentiments, emphasising that it is a partnership between the clubs in every sense.
Johnson also reiterates that this arrangement is a vital stage of the process for Papanui ultimately regaining full premier status for the first time since 2022.
“We’re excited and we’re looking forward to the season ahead,” he enthuses.
“[Riccarton] are pretty much our neighbours and the playing groups know each other, so that makes it a bit easier.
“Being able to train together as a core group, then splitting off together on a Thursday into our separate teams is exciting – unfortunately we weren’t able to do that last year with the Greyhounds being out of town.
“Having this MoU gives us a chance to rebuild the club and our main goal is to have our own premiers and premier reserves teams again, but it takes a bit of time. We’re working hard to get back to that stage and the support of Riccarton, being able to join them as their reserves, we’re grateful and thankful.
“We’re treating it as very much as one large team – so if you’ve got the Riccarton Knights jersey or the Papanui Tigers jersey on, we’re all one.
“That’s been the key driver getting this over the line, that we come together as one core group, work our butts off and no matter what club you align to as a home club, we’re going to support each other through the season and through the journey.
“Whether than means you go up (a grade) and play or come down (a grade), we’re all on board. It’s going to be exciting to see some of our young, talented players get a shot at premiers footy, and also to show CRL that we have got the calibre in our ranks.”
The 2025 CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas and Canterbury Cup competitions get underway on March 29.
