Friday Flashback
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: ADDINGTON’S LAST PREMIERSHIP
Addington Magpies made a long-awaited return to senior men’s competition last weekend, playing their first Division One game since 2018 – and marking the milestone with a 40-38 victory over Riccarton Knights. Flashback Friday marks 35 years since the proud club’s last Canterbury Rugby League premiership triumph. Canterbury’s oldest club, Addington was established in 1913…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: WARO-RAKAU ROUTS PAPANUI TO CLAIM THACKER SHIELD
Our first Flashback Friday of 2024 marks a milestone anniversary of one of the greatest West Coast Rugby League club achievements of the 1990s. At Saturday’s historic CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership season-opening clash at Wingham Park between Greymouth Greyhounds and Halswell Hornets, the 1994 Waro-Rakau Hornets will assemble to celebrate 30 years…
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: 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: 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…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: BULLDOGS OUTLAST KEAS FOR MAIDEN TITLE
It’s been a tough 2023 Massetti Cup campaign so far for Northern Bulldogs, but they’ll be up for the daunting battle against defending champs Linwood Keas at Ngā Puna Wai in Saturday’s Magic Round. Flashback Friday revisits the blue-and-whites’ historic 2007 premiership triumph, when these clubs met in the Pat Smith Trophy grand final. Kaiapoi…
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