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'I broke down in tears': How Dan Carter saved former All Blacks captain from breakdown
Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has opened up on the mental toll the Christchurch earthquakes took on him in 2011 and how Dan Carter brought him back from tears.
In his book Straight 8, Read detailed the events surrounding the devastation caused by the earthquakes, which resulted in 185 deaths, 200 injuries and millions of dollars of damage to the city.
After the first 6.2 magnitude quake hit in February 2011, Read said he panicked when he was unable to get in contact his wife Bridget, who was home with their daughter Elle.
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“I couldn’t reach Bridget on the phone. All around us was chaos,” he said.
“I drove as fast as I could to get home, but the water concealed every crack and hole that had opened in the roads, and the short journey took close to half an hour.
“I finally arrived to see Bridget standing in the driveway holding Elle, looking determined to get out of there as quickly as possible. She had already packed a bag for the baby and sorted a plan.”
Read described his shock as they accessed the damage the earthquake had caused to their home.
“I looked out into the backyard to see geysers of mud erupt across the lawn … A lake of silt and water was spreading across the section with no sign of abating.
“The earth beneath us quite literally turned to liquid mud.
“We were transfixed by the scene and by the time the flow was over, almost a foot of fresh mud covered the entire lawn, and it seeped through the sunken corner of our living room.”
Read and his family retreated to his aunt and uncle’s home in Burnside, where damage had been minimal.
The Crusaders’ game against the Hurricanes was soon called off and Read said he got to work putting the pieces of his home back together.
Things settled in the months which followed before Christchurch experienced another large aftershock.
It was just four days before the Crusaders’ final round-robin game against the Hurricanes in Wellington.
Read said it was one of the toughest times of his life – at least until Carter came to his aid.
“I had only just got the section back in order and watched out my window as the mud and water began oozing up through the ground again, just as it had in February,” he said. “I don’t know if I was mentally and physically exhausted from the travel and the grind, but as I picked up the things that had fallen off walls and watched the earth swallow my lawn, I broke down in tears and started to sob.
“For the first time in my life I felt like I was having a breakdown. I sat there, crying, steeling myself to shovel mud for the next few days.
“It was only a call from Dan Carter asking if everything was all right and if a few of his Southbridge Rugby Club boys could help me out, that snapped me back out of my funk.”
The Crusaders defeated the Hurricanes 16-9 and then hosted the Sharks in the Super Rugby quarter-final in Nelson, which they won 36-8.
“Once again the city came alive for us,” he said. “It would have taken a great side to beat us in that quarter-final, such was our desire to end our time in Nelson on a high note.”
The Crusaders narrowly missed the out on the 2011 title, losing to the Reds in the final.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.
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Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments