NGĀ PUNA WAI TRIPLE-HEADER SET TO CONJURE SOME PREMIERSHIP MAGIC
Ngā Puna Wai, the home of Canterbury Rugby League since 2019, plays host to another huge festival of footy on Saturday courtesy of the second annual Massetti Cup Magic Round.
All three CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership Round 3 matches will be staged at Ngā Puna Wai tomorrow – and in a tweak to last year’s format, the fixtures will be played consecutively on the No.1 ground.
Greymouth Greyhounds and Linwood Keas get things underway at 3pm, while the Riccarton Knights v Eastern Eagles clash kicks off at 5pm and a massive Hornby Panthers v Halswell Hornets derby concludes Magic Round from 7pm.
Ngā Puna Wai has been the scene of many memorable occasions in its five and a bit seasons as Canterbury Rugby League’s headquarters: the 2019 opening day featuring Canterbury Bulls’ clash with the Warriors’ NSW Cup team; five CRL Grand Final Days, including some of the greatest Men’s and Women’s Premiership deciders of the modern era; the Bulls’ representative showdowns with NSW Country and Toa Samoa; Canterbury’s men’s and women’s teams’ matches in the NZRL National Premiership; and myriad South Island Scorpions and Canterbury age-group successes, and youth night competition finals.
Most recently it was the venue for the highly successful, inaugural CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Pre-season Competition, with six matches over three weekends played at Ngā Puna Wai, culminating in Riccarton Knights’ victory over Halswell Hornets in the final.
The fledgling Magic Round concept in 2023 saw the three premiership fixtures played on Ngā Puna Wai’s outer fields in afternoon timeslots.
The Keas put Northern Bulldogs to the sword 60-0 in the early game, while the Panthers shut out the Eagles 24-0 and the Hornets overwhelmed the Knights 30-10 in the simultaneously-played later matches.
Having this year’s clashes played back-to-back-to-back, all on Ngā Puna Wai’s best pitch, is designed to create the local equivalent of the NRL’s celebrated, Suncorp Stadium-hosted Magic Round event.
“I am most excited to see the people on and off the field,” CRL Competitions & Operations Manager Jordan Chand says.
“Last year our community bought into Magic Round and I expect this one to be bigger and better.
“Staging this year’s matches on our number one ground – supporters up in the grandstand and on the embankments – I can’t wait.”
For the teams involved, however, their focus will be solely on securing valuable early-season competition points.
The Greyhounds face a daunting task snaring a maiden top-grade win over the defending premiers, but they will take plenty of confidence from following up their convincing home loss to Halswell in Round 1 with a last-gasp 22-17 defeat to Eastern at Wainoni Park last weekend.
The Keas have been involved in consecutive nail-biters, edging out the Eagles 16-14 before being run down in a 26-all grand final rematch thriller against the Panthers.
The Knights – after such an encouraging pre-season – will be fired up to clinch their first win of 2024, having suffered a six-point loss to the Panthers in the opening round with a 20-4 defeat to the Hornets last Saturday. The Eagles, meanwhile, are chasing back-to-back wins for the first time since Round 8 last season and are also looking to avenge their loss to the Knights in the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Pre-season Competition semis.
The round-closing derby showdown promises to be a barnburner – the ladder-leading Hornets have got their campaign off to a blistering start with two big victories, while the Panthers are also unbeaten and will be buoyed by their late rally to snatch a share of the spoils against the Keas.
Last season the Panthers took out all four matches between the westside neighbours, including a 26-12 result in the preliminary final – a stat that will surely provide extra motivation for the Hornets.
There’s also lower-grade action on Ngā Puna Wai’s docket on Saturday, with Riccarton’s Division One encounter against table-topping Northern (1pm) and the ISC Canterbury Cup clash with fellow unbeaten side Eastern (3pm) being played back-to-back on the No.2 field.
Around the grounds, the Panthers host the Hornets at Leslie Park, and the Keas head to Papanui Domain to take on the Tigers – with both team searching for their first win – in the other two Premier Reserves fixtures, both kicking off at 12.30pm.
In Division One, Shirley Hawks are aiming to go 3-0 when they take on the Hornets at Halswell Domain (1pm); Addington Magpies welcome Burnham Chevaliers to Spreydon Domain (1pm); and Woolston Rams make the journey to Ashburton to face the Barbarians at Robilliard Park (2pm).
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