KEAS BACK TO RECLAIM CHAMPION CLUB STATUS ON CRL HAPPY HIRE GRAND FINAL DAY
After a straight-sets finals exit denied them a 10th consecutive Pat Smith Trophy Challenge appearance in 2024, Linwood Keas are back in familiar Ngā Puna Wai territory this Sunday as they prepare for a showdown with Riccarton Knights.
The absence of the usual sea of black and green was palpable on CRL Happy Hire Grand Final Day last year, with Linwood’s three defending champion teams all failing to qualify for the big one.
But the club has enjoyed a tremendous 2025 resurgence, taking out the Massetti Cup as the best team in the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership, and topping the table in the CRL ISC Sports Canterbury Cup and CRL Bartercard Women’s Premiership. Only the Keas’ premier reserves side missed out on a grand final berth.
“It’s been refreshing coming back into the role – being in the other code for the last three years with 1st XV (at St Thomas’ of Canterbury College), but still strongly connected to Linwood – and I’m just stoked to see the club thriving,” enthuses Andrew Auimatagi, who returned as men’s premiers head coach this year.
“It’s great to see the women there, the premier reserves went pretty close, and it’s great to see the different players coming in and the talent across our junior grades. It’s pretty special. Hopefully we can keep it going and clubrooms aren’t too far away.”
The Keas finished six points clear of the field in the Massetti Cup with 10 wins and two losses from their 12 matches, as well as locking away the Thacker Shield for the summer.
Burying the memories of their 2024 finals flop after earning top spot, they overwhelmed Halswell Hornets 30-4 in the qualifying final a fortnight ago.
“It’s been an enjoyable season, a great bunch of boys – quite a mix of young ones and some older heads,” Auimatagi says.
“There’s a couple of juniors that have come through and a couple of guys that have jumped across from rugby, so it’s good for them to get the opportunity to play this weekend.”
With several players taking the grand final stage for the first time, Auimatagi has the luxury of leaning on the experience of several premiership-winning stalwarts – including 2024 Trillo Metals Men’s Canterbury Bulls captain Danny Latu, two-time Mel Cooke Trophy winner Daniel Hartley, Michael Nicholls-Cane, George Faaiva and Chanel Feala.
“Those guys have got some good experience under their belt and with this team, you take the learnings of the past.
“But it’s a new-look [team] and a new opposition, so they’ll get a lot of confidence from those older boys and the young ones all deserve to be there – they’ll give it a good crack.”
The third-placed Knights arrive in the grand final with a head of steam, having disposed of Greymouth Greyhounds and the Hornets convincingly over the past two weeks.
But Auimatagi is more than comfortable with the preparation time the often-tricky week off has provided his charges.
“Having the extra week, you know your fate and that you’ll be playing in a couple of weeks and focus on polishing up a few areas, connecting and enjoying that time together.
“When we’ve gone the other route [through a preliminary final] there’s a bit more pressure on you, you can exert a big more energy as well, but for us it’s worked well having the extra time to prepare for this game.”
Auimatagi was part of Linwood teams that lost grand finals in 2002 and 2004 to Riccarton, and 2006 and 2009 to Hornby. He missed the Keas’ victory over the Panthers in the 2005 decider but earned a premiership medal in their 2008 win against Papanui.
He took over as Keas player-coach in 2012 – hanging up the boots after the 2015 grand final loss to the Tigers – before guiding club to four straight titles from 2016-19 as non-playing coach then stepping down. The veteran returned to the playing ranks and played an inspirational role off the bench in the epic 2021 grand final defeat to the Panthers.
Keenly aware of the threat the Knights pose this Sunday, Auimatagi’s grand final week expertise will be critical as the Keas vie for their 12th premiership.
“We’ve just tried to focus week by week, we’ve obviously had a few slip-ups throughout the year but learnt some really good lessons,” the former long-serving Bulls coach says.
“We’re down to two teams now, Riccarton want it just as much as us so we’ve got to prepare for a battle. They really deserve to be there, they’ve been a tough team all season and our guys are approaching it as a real tough game.”
Linwood won both clashes with Riccarton during the home-and-away rounds – a 34-18 result at Crosbie Park after leading just 16-10 at halftime and 14-6 in a Linwood Park graft.
“They’ll be really excited to be there. They played really well against Halswell, a pretty polished performance and they didn’t make many errors.
“Obviously they’ve got some experienced guys in their team steering them around, so I think they’ll be pretty fired up – they’re a physical side with some X-factor across the team. They’re a slightly different team to last time we faced them and we’ll be expecting their best on Sunday.”
