Friday Flashback
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: CANTABRIANS IN NRL GRAND FINALS
Ahead of Sunday’s night’s NRL grand final between Penrith Panthers and Brisbane – where Hornby Panthers junior Jordan Riki will join a select group – we recognise the 10 players from the Canterbury region that have previously featured on the game’s biggest stage. Bill Noonan – Canterbury-Bankstown (1974): Simultaneously becoming the first New Zealander to…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: BROADHURST FAREWELLS TEST ARENA IN ICONIC LANG PARK UPSET
The rugby league world’s attention is fixated on Suncorp Stadium for Saturday’s blockbuster NRL preliminary final between Brisbane Broncos and New Zealand Warriors. Flashback Friday goes back 40 years to the previous incarnation of the venue, the hallowed Lang Park, as one of Canterbury’s greatest players farewelled the Test arena in a watershed victory for…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: JIMMY HAIG – OTAGO & CANTERBURY LEGEND
Ahead of Sunday’s crunch NZRL National Premiership clash between Otago Whalers and SENZ Canterbury Bulls in Dunedin, Flashback Friday celebrates the only player to represent the Kiwis from both provinces – dual international and legendary halfback of the 1940s and ’50s, Jimmy Haig. Haig was the first player to represent New Zealand in rugby union…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: BULLS OVERRUN LEOPARDS FOR INAUGURAL BARTERCARD CUP TITLE
As the SENZ Canterbury Bulls prepare for a crucial NZRL National Premiership showdown with Auckland Vulcans at Ngā Puna Wai on Sunday, Flashback Friday revisits one of the Canterbury provincial side’s greatest triumphs since taking on the Bulls moniker – the 2000 Bartercard Cup success. Coached by Gerard Stokes, Canterbury finished second in the 22-round…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: EDWARDS’ LATE TRY STUNS AUCKLAND
Ahead of the SENZ Canterbury Bulls’ opening NZRL National Premiership clash with Counties Manukau Stingrays on Saturday at Ngā Puna Wai, Flashback Friday relives a famous, drought-breaking win by the red-and-blacks over our archrivals from the north. Canterbury had only defeated Auckland three times in more than three-quarters of a century: at Monica Park in…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: MEL COOKE’S BRILLIANT TEST DEBUT
Ahead of the Mel Cooke Trophy being awarded for the 10th time to the standout player in Sunday’s Grand Final, this week’s Flashback Friday goes back 64 years to the Test debut of the player recognised by most as Hornby’s – and indeed Canterbury’s – greatest rugby league product, the mercurial loose forward Melville Lance…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: PANTHERS EDGE HORNETS IN EXTRA-TIME GF THRILLER
As westside neighbours Hornby Panthers and Halswell Hornets prepare for their do-or-die preliminary final showdown at Leslie Park, Flashback Friday revisits the last of the clubs’ 11 Pat Smith Trophy Challenge encounters. The Panthers and Hornets had previously squared off in the 1984-87, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2012 grand finals, with a Corey…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: BROWN SENDS WARRIORS INTO GRAND FINAL
As the finals series in CRL’s 2023 senior competitions get underway this weekend, Flashback Friday relives arguably the greatest finals moment in the Australian premiership involving a Canterbury product. Lewis Brown, a grand final winner with Riccarton Knights and a Canterbury Bulls rep as a teenager, played 198 NRL games for the Warriors, Penrith and…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: NOONAN CREATES GRAND FINAL HISTORY WITH CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN
With Canterbury Rugby League and NRL’s Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs entering into a pathways partnership, announced last week, Flashback Friday looks back at the first notable link between our region and the Sydney-based club. Rugged Linwood prop/second-rower Bill Noonan played three Tests for New Zealand in the late-1960s, but arguably carved out a greater legacy as a…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: KIWIS COMPLETE LIONS WHITEWASH AT LANCASTER PARK
As Queensland prepares to complete a rare State of Origin cleansweep over New South Wales in Sydney next Wednesday, Flashback Friday revisits the 1996 Test series between New Zealand and Great Britain, where the Frank Endacott-coached Kiwis sealed a 3-0 whitewash of the tourists in Christchurch. Taking over the national reins in 1994, successful Canterbury…
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