Friday Flashback
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: EASTERN SUBURBS INTERRUPTS PAPANUI DYNASTY
As Eastern Eagles prepare to avenge their Round 1 loss to Papanui Tigers in this weekend’s CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership clash, Flashback Friday recalls one of the great grand final performances from Eastern Suburbs – the only blip in eight years of overwhelming Papanui dominance. Papanui won four straight grand finals from…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: HORNBY-HEAVY FRONT-ROW POWERS KIWIS TO TEST TRIUMPH
With Suncorp Stadium the centre of the rugby league universe this weekend for NRL Magic Round, Flashback Friday recalls one of the Kiwis’ greatest – and a heavily Hornby-influenced – victories at the iconic Brisbane venue. The Kiwis approached the 1987 season in a state of flux. Graham Lowe’s influential reign as national coach, which…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: HALSWELL SNATCH EPIC ’95 GRAND FINAL
As Halswell Hornets prepare to take on defending premiers Linwood Keas in a CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership blockbuster tomorrow, Flashback Friday is celebrating a truly epic grand final between the clubs – when a shorthanded Hornets side staged an extraordinary comeback to snatch a last-minute 20-19 triumph over the Keas in the…
Read MoreFLASHBACK 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: 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: 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…
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