An earthquake destroyed the city. Here's how the Crusaders responded

15 years ago today, the city of Christchurch was devastated by a deadly earthquake. When the first quake hit, at 12:51pm on 22 Feb, the team's reactions went from bemusement to shock as they realised the seriousness of what had just happened. “ I was at Rugby Park,” says Sam Whitelock. “I'd just got out of the shower and I just had to put my towel around me. And the first thing I learnt was under pressure I can run quite fast because I beat all the outside backs out of the change room. “I remember DC was there and I was actually teasing him around how I beat him out and jokingly said that he pushed me and I was too fast and then I still remember Willi Heinz saying, hey, look, this is actually serious. My wife has just texted me and there's buildings that have collapsed and people would have definitely lost their lives.” The team’s first job was to deal with the immediate needs. Kieran Read recalls: “I went back to my house the next day and it was a foot high of liquefaction all through. So I just got on the phone to a few of the boys and suddenly, you know, they're rocking around wheelbarrows and shovels. Literally a day of shoveling crap. “And then move on to our neighbours. Next few days, that's all we did. It was just shovel silt and looked after people the best we could.” But then… They had to ask themselves, what next? Their stadium was unusable. The city was in chaos. They had every right to forfeit the entire season — but was that the right thing to do? So they gathered. “The first meeting we had as a leaders group, was at Todd Blackadder's house. Essentially it was, okay what are we gonna do? “Really it was bigger than us right then, so we just didn't talk about the rugby, we talked about our connection to our community, connection to our people here in Christchurch, in Canterbury. “So what are we good at? Playing rugby. Is that going to increase the morale and increase the community-based spirit that we have here in Christchurch? Yes, it is. “Okay, this is what we've got to do. We've got to do what we're good at and go put on a fighting face for the community.” What followed was the most extraordinary season imaginable. The team played every game on the road. They played “home” games in Nelson, Timaru, Napier. They played the Sharks at Twickenham in London, the first ever Super Rugby game in the Northern Hemisphere. The toll on the players was immense. Kieran tells it: “Every weekend we'd go away and you'd leave your loved ones at home, eh? And you just didn't know what was going to happen. There were so many aftershocks. It was just hard, knowing that you had to leave them behind to go and do what you need to do.” Unbelievably, the team made it to the Grand Final against the Reds in Brisbane. And what happened next… Well, you’ll just need to watch the video to find out. May want to get your tissues, though. --- Become a better leader. Build your winning team. Help your people thrive. Learn more at https://crusadersleadership.com