Friday Flashback
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: WARRIORS AND CANTERBURY PLAY TO PACKED SHOW GROUNDS
Ahead of the One New Zealand Warriors’ first trial match of 2026 against Manly at McLean Park in Napier our first Flashback Friday of the year relives a landmark Christchurch encounter between the Canterbury provincial team and the fledgling Auckland Warriors. A record 12,811-strong crowd packed out the Addington Show Grounds as Warriors-mania gripped New…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: BULLS OVERRUN LEOPARDS FOR INAUGURAL BARTERCARD CUP TITLE
As the Trillo Metals Men’s Canterbury Bulls prepare for their NZRL National Men’s Premiership final showdown with Counties Manukau Stingrays in Papakura on Sunday, Flashback Friday marks 25 years since one of the Canterbury provincial side’s greatest triumphs since taking on the Bulls moniker – the 2000 Bartercard Cup success. Coached by the late Gerard…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: CANTABRIANS IN NRL GRAND FINALS
Ahead of Sunday’s night’s NRL grand final between Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos, who will field Hornby Panthers product and 2024 Kiwis debutant Jordan Riki in the second-row, we recognise the 11 players from the Canterbury region that have previously featured on the game’s biggest stage. Bill Noonan – Canterbury-Bankstown (1974): Simultaneously becoming the first…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: BROADHURST FAREWELLS TEST ARENA IN ICONIC LANG PARK UPSET
In honour of Canterbury Rugby League great Mark Broadhurst’s 70th birthday earlier this week, Flashback Friday goes back 42 years to his last Test appearance – which doubles as one of New Zealand’s greatest-ever victories. Papanui and Marist-Western Suburbs hardman Broadhurst carried on the fine tradition of teak-tough Canterbury prop-forwards, playing 17 Tests for New…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: SOUTH ISLAND STUNS AUSTRALIA AT THE SHOWGROUNDS
One month out from the historic Pacific Championships double-header in Ōtautahi Christchurch – which will see the Kiwi Ferns take on the Jillaroos and the Kiwis face the Kangaroos at Apollo Projects Stadium on October 27 – Flashback Friday goes 44 years back in the time tunnel to revisit Australia’s last defeat in the city.…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: VAEALIKI TRY SWINGS 2000 QUALIFYING FINAL
As the 2024 NRL finals get underway tonight, Flashback Friday relives a bizarre, memorable try by a Canterbury product that spearheaded Parramatta Eels’ 2000 qualifying final upset of Sydney Roosters. The youthful, seventh-placed Eels approached the do-or-die assignment against the seventh-placed Roosters as rank outsiders. The Eels had fought back from an early deficit to…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: STUART LEADS WEST COAST TO JUBILEE UPSET OF CANTERBURY
In honour of this weekend’s South Island Men’s Championship opener between West Coast and the Trillo Metals Canterbury Bulls Men’s team at Wingham Park, Flashback Friday marks 35 years since a memorable encounter between the archrival provinces at the same venue. West Coast Rugby League celebrated its 75th jubilee in 1989, and the representative side…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: CANTERBURY WINS 1985 RUGBY LEAGUE CUP
With the countdown until the campaigns of Canterbury’s senior representatives teams down to one week, Flashback Friday celebrates the province’s memorable 1985 season, in which it clinched the Rugby League Cup. The code was enjoying a resurgence in New Zealand during the mid-1980s courtesy of the Graham Lowe-coached Kiwis’ drought-breaking Test wins over Australia in…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: MEL COOKE’S BRILLIANT TEST DEBUT
As Hornby Panthers prepare to farewell a pair of club legends on Saturday, long-serving premiership coach Jed Lawrie and 250-game great James Baxendale, this week’s Flashback Friday goes back 65 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…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: CANTERBURY TROUNCE AUCKLAND IN 1993 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
It’s that time of the year again, when our Flashback Friday segment celebrates Canterbury’s greatest-ever victory – the unforgettable thrashing of Auckland at the Addington Showgrounds in the 1993 provincial championship final. This time around we’ve got a special addition, courtesy of the recent uploading of the match by Point of Difference Rugby League Podcast.…
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