All Blacks rattled by aftershock
An earthquake scare left several All Blacks diving for cover in Christchurch ahead of the World Cup champions' upcoming Test against Ireland in the New Zealand city.
Coach Steve Hansen, a Christchurch native, said the 4.2-magnitude aftershock in the early hours of Tuesday morning rattled out-of-town players unused to the regular seismic rumblings of New Zealand's second largest city.
He said New Zealand squad members from the Canterbury region, all too familiar with the tremors after thousands of aftershocks in the past two years, were unfazed by the shake.
"It can't have been too bad, I never woke up," Hansen told the Christchurch Press.
"But those that don't live in Christchurch got a nice welcome and most of them just about pooed their pants which is quite a laugh.
"All the Christchurch people were having a joke about that with guys diving round bedrooms and whatnot."
The Ireland team were not in Christchurch for Tuesday's aftershock and are due to arrive in the city Wednesday from Auckland, where they lost 10-42 in the first Test.
While in Christchurch, the Irishmen will tour the city's "red zone", the downtown area devastated in a 6.3-magnitude quake in February last year that resulted in 185 deaths.
The second Test on Saturday will be the first the All Blacks have played in Christchurch since the disaster and is likely to provide powerful motivation for players from the city, including captain Richie McCaw.
The rugby-mad city was unable to host matches when New Zealand staged the Rugby World Cup last year because it was deemed too unsafe and insufficiently recovered from the deadly quake.
AFP
