Friday Flashback
FLASHBACK 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…
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.…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: KIWIS CLINCH WORLD CUP FINAL BERTH IN SHOWGROUNDS MUD
Following last night’s world premiere of Sharko, the documentary about Mark Graham made by his son Luke, in Christchurch at the Doc Edge Festival last night, Flashback Friday relives the New Zealand Rugby League Player of the Century’s last match in the city. It what ranks as one of the most dramatic and important Test matches…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: PAPANUI PAIR SHINE ON KIWI FERNS DEBUT
Ahead of the opening round of the expanded CRL Women’s Premiership on Sunday, Flashback Friday revisits one of the most notable occasions in Canterbury’s modern history on the international rugby league stage. The Australian Jillaroos reclaimed supremacy in women’s rugby league with a well-deserved win in a typically bruising and absorbing 2017 Anzac Test against…
Read MoreFLASHBACK FRIDAY: DUFFIE’S DREAM ANZAC DAY DEBUT
Following yesterday’s Anzac Day NRL triple-header, Flashback Friday revisits an April 25 clash from 14 years ago – and a stunning debut by a Canterbury Rugby League product. In its last home match before moving into the brand new AAMI Park, Melbourne hosted the Warriors at Docklands on Anzac Day, 2010, in the second edition…
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: 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: 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: 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…
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