No time for players to brood on calamity

Even as they busied themselves at training yesterday, the Canterbury players would have struggled to ignore the devastation of last Saturday morning's earthquake.

A quick glance over the back fence at Rugby Park revealed a broken chimney sitting forlornly on top of a nearby house, while a two-storied wooden house on Malvern Street, which is rented by several Canterbury academy players, was also damaged.

Nick-named "the Slums" by backs coach Tabai Matson, a reference to the haphazard flatting habits of the young men, the house, too, is missing its chimney and suddenly that facetious nickname bestowed on the pad seems a tad more accurate.

A quick glance around the surrounding streets of the training ground at St Albans' Rugby Park reveal more of the same; more chimneys knocked off their perches and brick fences flattened.

And everyone knows that anyone who suffered such minimal damage are among the lucky ones. A tradesman checking out the Rugby Park facility recounted the damage to his property, the likelihood that it is no longer habitable and will have to be bowled.

Matson, too, lost the chimney off his house in St Albans but reckoned the worst damage was almost self-inflicted: as he charged through the house to protect his children he took a tumble.

"We all woke up, I lost my feet running through the hallway. I don't know if it is just because I am unco-ordinated or what – the only potential fatality was a dad dying as he tried to save his children. We didn't really know the extent of the damage to the city until the TV came on. It was then we thought `hold on', this is more than just a few chimneys coming down."

For the team's management staff this is not an issue they are prepared to brush under the carpet. Long gone are the days when players are told to "harden up", but for head coach Rob Penney there is still business to attend to against a resurgent Northland in Whangarei on Saturday afternoon.

Like it or not, competition leaders Canterbury will not be given any time to take a deep breath and jump off the professional rugby carousel. It will be business as usual.

At least for captain George Whitelock there were no concerns about his farm dogs losing the plot as Mother Nature flexed her muscles: "No mate, they were fine. They slept their way through it," he said with a grin.

"You have got to remember they are not townie dogs."

- © Fairfax NZ News