CRL GRAND FINAL HISTORY: Riccarton’s 2000s rise reaps twin titles
Riccarton Knights’ second straight CRL Whitehead Plumbing and Gas Men’s Premiership grand final appearance this Sunday provides the proud club with another opportunity to end a 22-year title drought.
Riccarton first earned senior status from 1931-33 and fielded teams in Canterbury Rugby League’s top tier in 1939-42 (it was the junior partner in a wartime amalgamation with Hornby and Rakaia that won the ’42 chamionship), 1944, 1947-52, 1976, 1996-97, and in 1998 and 2000 as Riccarton-Lincoln, while the Knights have been a permanent standalone fixture in the premiership since 2001.
The Knights’ rise to Canterbury Rugby League’s apex was swift, powering to Pat Smith Trophy glory with emphatic grand final victories in 2002 and 2004 – both against Linwood Keas.
“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 Knights president Tamatea, the a 300-game club legend, in 2024 for the 20-year celebrations of their premiership.
“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.”
Coached by Brent ‘Jigsy’ Ringdahl, who won a title with Papanui in 1998 and would go on to oversee another at Hornby in 2006, Riccarton’s climb to the summit gathered steam with the acquisition of former Kiwi, Illawarra Steelers, Wakefield Trinity and Auckland Warriors half Whittaker from Halswell.
The Knights won the Gore Cup (competed for by teams who missed the finals) in 2001 before surging to the top of the premiership ladder in 2002 with a 13-1 regular-season record. With skipper Whittaker shattering grand final records via individual hauls of five tries and 32 points, and another former New Zealand Test star marshalling the pack in the No.13 in Logan Edwards, the Knights romped to a 54-14 defeat of the Keas in the decider.
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.
“I’m still speechless, to be fair,” Whittaker told Canterbury Rugby League of his pointscoring heroics 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.
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,” says 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.”
With Ringdahl back at the helm and engine-room stalwart Kyle Leka still trucking the ball up – with son Joel also in the team in a historic first – Riccarton qualified for its first grand final in more than two decades in 2025.
The Keas halted the Knights’ charge 30-6 in the decider, but a stunning 22-18 victory at Linwood Park in the preliminary final last week sets up another chance for long-awaited Pat Smith Trophy success…against an Eastern Eagles side lining up in the grand final for the first time in 45 years.
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. Halftime: Riccarton 30-6. Referee: Gary Smallridge.
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. Half-time: Riccarton 16-14. Referee: Darren Hopewell.
