BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR KEAS AND KNIGHTS IN 2025 CRL GRAND FINAL
While Linwood Keas line up in their 10th premiership decider in 11 seasons on CRL Happy Hire Grand Final Day this Sunday – winning eight titles during that period – opponents Riccarton Knights are gearing up for the big for the first time in 21 years.
The Knights’ two grand final appearances, in 2002 and 2004, both garnered premiership triumphs at the expense of the Keas…and some strong threads tie those clashes to the 2025 Pat Smith Trophy Challenge at Ngā Puna Wai.
Current Riccarton coach Brent Ringdahl was at the helm for both grand final victories, while Linwood counterpart Andrew Auimatagi (the club’s 2016-19 premiership-winning mentor) played in both beaten Keas line-ups.
Perhaps most remarkably, Kyle Leka – a rookie forward in the Knights’ 2004 grand final-winning combination – is set to feature in the front-row this weekend more than two decades on. His son, outside-back Joel Leka, was an infant the last time the club carried off the silverware but will take the field with his father.
Originally a premier club in 1931, Riccarton was an intermittent participant in Canterbury Rugby League’s top grade. During the first 34 seasons of the grand final era (1967 onwards), the club only fielded a premier team in 1976 and 1996-97.
But Riccarton returned to the CRL big time in 2001 and a watershed triumph would take just two seasons to achieve.
The Knights finished the 2002 regular season atop the Massetti Cup table with a 13-1 record – five wins clear of second-placed Papanui. The Tigers were the hard-luck story of the playoffs, giving up a 16-point lead in a 24-20 major semi loss to Riccarton and coughing up a 14-point advantage to go down 40-34 to Linwood in the preliminary final.
The Keas, chasing their first premiership since 1970, won five straight matches to qualify for the grand final. But that winning streak came to a grinding halt in the decider at the hands of the rampant Knights, who carved out a 54-14 victory.
Their capture of the Pat Smith Challenge Trophy for the first time was effectively sealed by halftime, by which stage Riccarton had raced out to a 30-6 lead.
The 10-tries-to-three demolition knocked Eastern Suburbs’ 27-2 win over Papanui in 1975 out of the history books as the biggest winning margin in a CRL grand final, while Riccarton also racked up the highest score in a decider – beating Halswell’s 38 points in its defeat of Papanui two years earlier.
But the most extraordinary new entries in the record books came courtesy of the Knights’ captain and halfback, Aaron Whittaker. The 33-year-old former Kiwi demolished grand final records for tries and points in a match, dotting down five times and adding six goals for a 32-point haul.
Whittaker already held the grand final record for most goals, booting seven in the Hornets’ aforementioned 2000 win.
“I’m still speechless, to be fair,” Whittaker told Canterbury Rugby League in 2024.
“I’d been in a few grand finals before and kicked a few goals but never scored any tries – it just seemed the stars aligned that particular day. But I’m only one player in the 17 and the boys up front did their job, which made it easier for our backs to shine.
“But I’m very honoured – you never really hear of it, five tries – and I’ll certainly take it. It was just great to be in a grand final with a great bunch of blokes.
Ringdahl’s Knights line-up included another New Zealand Test rep, 34-year-old back-rower Logan Edwards (main image), who defied a dodgy knee to produce an influential display.
Centre Hamish Barclay, the season’s leading try-scorer, and Vince Whare were among the Knights players to get over the stripe. Future Riccarton premiers coach and current CRL Director of Football Jamie Lester partnered Riki Barclay in the second-row.
“There’s a lot players out there that play a lot of footy and never play in a grand final, so to win a few is amazing,” Whittaker continued.
“The boys were up for the task that day, it was their first chance in a grand final and great coaching from ‘Jigsy’ (Ringdahl), and from one to 18 – we had a few guys who played all year that had to miss out, who I felt sorry for.”
The Andy Wihare-coached Keas also featured many familiar names. Veteran Andrew Vincent partnered captain Maurice Emslie in the halves. Auimatagi and the late Teni Tuli were try-scorers from a pack also boasting Chris Bamford and future Warrior Kane Ferris.
The landslide result was Riccarton’s second significant win over Linwood in 2002, also dominating the mid-season final of the Mainland Super 10, a competition featuring the eight CRL premier clubs along with Otago (represented by University) and Southland, 42-22.
“In the early-2000s, us and Linwood were at the bottom of the ladder but we both crept up. We had a good rivalry – when we played Linwood, that was the game we wanted to win,” recalled Riccarton president Shane Tamatea, a 300-game Knights legend, amid last year’s 20-year anniversary celebrations.
“The team we had in ’04 was pretty talented. For me personally, I got to play alongside a couple of my childhood mates in that side and getting to score a try in the grand final was pretty cool as well.
“And being able to win another grand final at a young age is something I look back on now, it’s so hard to make them…not so much for Linwood, though.”
Both clubs missed the 2003 grand final – Whittaker had battled through the campaign with a double hernia that required off-season surgery – but regrouped to battle for the Pat Smith Trophy again in 2004.
“It was brilliant for a club like Riccarton to see success and it was great to be a part of,” enthused Whittaker, whose stint with the Knights came to an end in 2004.
“It was great to finish off on that note. My brother [Jeff] became president of Halswell and that was the reason I ended up going back [in 2005] – he asked me to come back, otherwise I would’ve stayed at Riccarton.
“There was a few differences between [the Knights teams in] 2002 and 2004, so to fit those jigsaw pieces back in under ‘Jigsy’, it was amazing.”
The Knights had eight survivors from that historic maiden success – Whittaker, Tamatea (a centre in the 2002 grand final and hooker in ’04), Tim Gleeson, Glen Barron, Colin Ritchie, Vince Whare, Jamie Lester and Riki Barclay – still on board when the team ran out for the 2004 decider.
The likes of 17-year-old future Kiwi and Warrior Lewis Brown, Kyle and Kasi Leka, and talented Burnham halfback Koro Hati emerged to fill the gaps. The Knights advanced to their second grand final with an extra-time win over Kaiapoi in the major semi, while the Keas walked the playoffs tightrope in devastating style, thrashing the Hornets and Bulldogs to earn their spot.
Unlike the start-to-finish rout of 2002, the rivals engaged in a gripping contest. The Knights held a slender 16-14 lead at halftime, scoring three tries to the two scored by dynamic Keas second-rower Chris Bamford.
But Riccarton dominated the second stanza – with Hati, an Army mechanic who had returned from Waiouru in time for the match, the standout performer of a 33-14 result with a brace of tries and match-sealing one-pointer.
“[2002 and 2004] were contrasting grand finals,” said Whittaker, who was 36 at the time of the latter clash.
“To be only 16-14 up at halftime, it was a matter of a bit more experience and a bit of patience. On that particular day, Koro Hati had a blinder – and I hope I took a bit of emphasis off him and attracted a few players so he could do his thing, he scored a couple of tries and kicked a nice field goal as well.
“At the end of the day, what ‘Jigsy’ did as coach, and I love my fitness too – the fitter you are, the more you can do and the better you become as an individual and a team – I think that shone through in the last 40 [minutes] and we got over the top of them.”
While the 2004 grand final represented a double dose of disappointment for a Linwood side chasing its first premiership since 1995, those high-stakes losses galvanised the Keas for their ensuing period of success.
Linwood would feature in the ensuing five grand finals, setting a new record with a 66-10 demolition of Hornby in 2005 and collecting another premiership in 2008 by defeating Papanui.
“That was a pretty special time for us [in 2004] as well, getting to a grand final,” said Auimatagi, who was the Keas’ hooker on grand final day in ’02 and lock in ’04, when asked about that era in 2024.
“The pain of losing grand finals, you learn a lot. We had some good young players coming through linking with some older heads, like Teni Tuli and Damien Horgan.
“It was cool for some of us younger guys to come through together and play with the older guys we admired as kids – it’s something we reflect on, how lucky we were to learn off them.
“I think that helped launch us into the later years and some of the things we achieved.”
Like the Knights, the Keas had significant turnover from 2002. Auimatagi, Bamford, Damian and Nathan Horgan, Siona Tuiloma, Alex Mealamu and Tuli, who tragically passed away in 2015, were their only players to turn out in both deciders.
“[2004] was my first year playing in the Bulls, and myself, Jamie McDonald, Paul McDonald, we lost in the semi-final to [North Harbour] – Brent Webb came back and scored four tries and knocked us out of the Bartercard Cup – and that meant we were available to play in the club grand final,” Auimatagi added.
“Vince Whare came back for Riccarton, he was massive for them and a great teammate in the Bulls. I remember it being really competitive in the first half, but Riccarton had some really good players from ’02, plus young guys like Lewie Brown.”
Linwood and Riccarton will pen another absorbing chapter in the clubs’ rivalry this Sunday at 3pm in the 2025 CRL Pat Smith Trophy Challenge grand final at Ngā Puna Wai – with memories of their early-2000s showdowns no doubt playing their part in the build-up for the likes of Auimatagi, Ringdahl, Kyle Leka and Tamatea.
2002 CRL PREMIERSHIP GRAND FINAL
Riccarton Knights 54 (Aaron Whittaker 5, Buck Hawkins, Vince Whare, Ben Coffin, Hamish Barclay, Shane Lange tries; Whittaker 6, Glen Barron goals) defeated Linwood Keas 14 (Andrew Auimatagi, Jason McDougall, Teni Tuli tries; John McLaughlin goal). Halftime: Riccarton 30-6. Referee: Gary Smallridge.
Riccarton Knights: Tim Gleeson, Glen Barron, Hamish Barclay, Shane Lange, Buck Hawkins, Ben Coffin, Aaron Whittaker (c), Colin Ritchie, Mike Wright, Vince Whare, Jamie Lester, Riki Barclay, Logan Edwards. Interchange: Paul Condon, Dwayne Grenfell, Jeremy Henry, Misa Falala. Coach: Brent Ringdahl.
Linwood Keas: John McLaughlin, Sam Lemalie, Jason McDougall, Siona Tuiloma, Alex Davis, Andrew Vincent, Maurice Emslie (c), Damian Horgan, Andrew Auimatagi, Kane Ferris, Chris Bamford, Teni Tuli, Damian Kemp. Interchange: Nathan Horgan, Alex Mealamu, Dean Heke, Casey Rastrick. Coach: Andy Wihare.
2004 CRL PREMIERSHIP GRAND FINAL
Riccarton Knights 33 (Koro Hati 2, Tim Gleeson, Jermahl Carroll, Shane Tamatea, Jamie Lester tries; Aaron Whittaker 4 goals; Hati field goal) defeated Linwood Keas 14 (Chris Bamford 2 tries; Leon Boyd 3 goals) at Addington Showgrounds. Half-time: Riccarton 16-14. Referee: Darren Hopewell.
Riccarton Knights: 1 Tim Gleeson, 2 Matt Kirdy, 3 Kasi Leka, 4 Lewis Brown, 5 Jermahl Carroll, 6 Aaron Whittaker, 7 Koro Hati, 17 Sean James, 9 Shane Tamatea, 10 Vince Whare, 11 Kyle Leka, 12 Jamie Lester, 13 Riki Barclay. Interchange: 8 Malala Pua’avase, 14 Glen Barron, 15 Jack Muir, 16 Colin Ritchie. Coach: Brent Ringdahl.
Linwood Keas: 1 James McDonald, 2 Paddy McDonald, 3 Siona Tuiloma, 4 Eugene English, 5 John Aranga, 6 Jayton Manuel, 7 Leon Boyd, 8 Damian Horgan, 9 Carl Williams, 10 Teni Tuli, 11 Nathan Horgan, 12 Chris Bamford, 13 Andrew Auimatagi. Interchange: 14 Stanley Bradbrook, 15 Mark Woodward, 16 Alex Mealamu, 17 Terry Rota. Coach: Kenny O’Brien
