That was the feeling of grand-final-winning Linwood Keas head coach Andrew Auimatagi after his side sealed the club’s eighth CRL Premiership title in 10 years with a commanding 30-6 victory over Riccarton Knights at Ngā Puna Wai.
Auimatagi praised his side’s great performance on Sunday to win the Pat Smith Trophy back after they were knocked out in the preliminary final last season.
"The boys came with a plan and executed really well, the most pleasing thing was our defence to be honest.
“I kind of had a feeling the boys were going to be on.”
First-half tries to Alofa Faaiva, Thomas Ruwhiu, Danny Samuelu-Latu and Daniel Hartley saw Linwood go into the break with a 22-0 lead. Hartley scored another try in the second half, converted it, and slotted a goal.
Jimmy Rangiawha’s try got Riccarton on the board with 19 minutes to play, making it 30-6. No further points were added as Linwood romped home.
Riccarton head coach Brent Ringdahl believed his side put their grand final performance in a week early.
"I’ve got this sneaky feeling that the week before, we might have played our grand final,” Ringdahl said.
He felt a lot was expected of his troops after making their first grand final since 2004, which could have impacted their performance.
"They were stoked to make it and everyone kept on saying ‘21 years’, so there was heaps of pressure on them.
"But you've got to take your hat off to Linwood, they came out there and dominated right from the start so they deserve it. They're a bloody good team, well-coached, with good support."
Ringdahl said he is now done with coaching for good after answering an SOS at the start of the season to come out of retirement and take the reins at Riccarton.
He also coachedRiccarton’s previous title-winning sides in 2002 and 2004 but stepped away from coaching in 2020.
“I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s kept me young,” he said.
"But I’ve done my dash.”
