Tim Bateman, left, congratulates Richie Mo'unga after his stunning 48m try against Tasman on Saturday night.

"Not again."

You can just about hear everyone outside of Canterbury muttering the words after the red and blacks emphatically beat Tasman 35-13 on Saturday night to win the Mitre 10 Cup premiership.

On the back of a Richie Mo'unga first-five eighth clinic, it was their third straight title, ninth in 10 years and 14th in history. Only Auckland (16) has won more, but Canterbury's dynasty is fast closing in.

MARTIN HUNTER/GETTY IMAGES Canterbury first-five eighth Richie Mo'unga scores his team's opening try against Tasman on Saturday night.

Mo'unga scored two quite remarkable individual tries and showed exactly why All Blacks coach Steve Hansen called him into his squad to cover Beauden Barrett in Brisbane last week.

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Mo'unga's 25-point haul at AMI Stadium surpassed former Canterbury first-five Tom Taylor's record (23) for most points scored in an NPC final, a performance Canterbury coach Glenn Delaney labelled "outstanding" after the match.

MARTIN HUNTER/GETTY IMAGES Richie Mo'unga finishes off a 48m try against Tasman in Christchurch on Saturday night.

And it wasn't just his own coaches and teammates hailing his performance.

Tasman coach Leon MacDonald, standing in the same spot as he was after last year's 43-27 loss to Canterbury in the final, gushed about the player he helped coach at the Crusaders this season, before saying he should have been in Steve Hansen's 37-man All Black squad for the northern tour.

Had he been, Mo'unga would have flown out of New Zealand with the All Blacks on Friday. He will, however, play against them for the Barbarians in London next Sunday (NZT), and join them for the French leg of the tour.

JOHN DAVIDSON/PHOTOSPORT Canterbury's Tom Sanders is tackled by Finlay Christie.

Departing Tasman wing James Lowe, who leaves for Leinster next weekend, crossed paths with Mo'unga on his way to speak to media and promptly told him he should have been on the tour.

A year after burning Tasman for two tries in last year's final, Mo'unga typically downplayed his performance and instead wanted to focus on what the team had achieved.

"At the moment, I'm just going to really take this moment, make the most of it and connect with the boys," Mo'unga said after his dazzling performance.

CHRIS SYMES/PHOTOSPORT Tasman centre Levi Aumua scores the opening try of Saturday night's Mitre 10 Cup final in Christchurch.

"Three in a row for Canterbury, nine out of the last 10, it's a big deal. So we've got to make sure we celebrate it right."

Having trailed 10-0 early and barely hanging on to the fired up Makos, Mo'unga sparked the hosts into gear with the first of his two tries - a jinking run down the short-side.

It was good, but his second - a sparkling 48m dash after fielding a kick - was what really got the reigning champions firing. He gassed half the Makos on his way to the line, and finished the match with a staggering 143 metres on 17 carries.

But he called vice-captain and centre Tim Bateman's try, scored as the halftime hooter rang out into the fresh Christchurch night, the key moment of the game.

He's probably right. It put Canterbury 19-13 up at halftime, before they came out in the second half with the wind behind them and killed off the Makos.

Defending their title was all they talked about after coughing up the Ranfurly Shield to Taranaki earlier in the month, and Mo'unga made it clear what trophy he'd rather see at Christchurch's Rugby Park.

"The Ranfurly Shield is a huge loss and a big blow in our season, but we've won the comp. Back-to-back-to-back, that's three in a row, I'll take this over the Shield any day," he said.

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Canterbury 35 (Richie Mounga 2, Tim Bateman, Jack Stratton tries; Mo'unga 3 con, Mo'unga 3 pen) Tasman 13 (Levi Aumua try; Mitch Hunt con, 2 pen) HT: 19-13.