Barrett reflects on shootings

The Hurricanes’ players and coaches remain in a state of contemplation following the Christchurch mosque shootings.

The team played out a 23-23 draw with the Chiefs on Friday night, just hours after the shootings took place.

There were discussions about whether the game would go ahead, but it did, and Hurricanes first-five Beauden Barrett said it was not an easy game to play.

‘‘It’s pretty tough to have to play a game after that,’’ he said after training yesterday.

‘‘Our thoughts are still with those families. It’s just such a tragedy, but it is positive to see everyone come together to find solutions so that these things never happen again.’’

Once a decision was made for the game to go ahead, the Hurricanes held an urgent team meeting a couple of hours before the 7.35pm kickoff at their hotel before they went to Waikato Stadium.

Hurricanes fullback Chase Tiatia said he thought it was to tell them the game had been called off.

‘‘Personally, I thought the game was going to get cancelled.

‘‘We had an urgent team meeting 10 minutes before the bus was going to leave – I thought that was it, they’re going to cancel the game.

‘‘It affected a lot of the boys’ prep heading into the game. It’s hard to prep for a rugby game when that stuff is going on in New Zealand. It’s quite scary and it threw a few of the boys off.’’

With the game going ahead, the meeting instead dealt with how to process with the events that were unfolding in Christchurch.

Hurricanes coach John Plumtree said yesterday he was still unsure if the game should have gone ahead.

‘‘I think it all happened so quickly . . . possibly not, but everything happened so quickly and it caught everyone by surprise. I guess there wasn’t enough time to make those types of decisions.’’

He said Friday’s events had given them a lot to contemplate.

‘‘It certainly puts it in perspective.

‘‘Afterwards, the game was a draw and everyone was just following the news and chatting about it when we got back to the hotel. Rugby wasn’t really on our minds, at all. It was a pretty tough night.’’

Plumtree said he hoped sport could provide some people a momentary distraction from the tragedy.

‘‘I don’t think there were too many people in New Zealand who were thinking too much about the Chiefs-Hurricanes game.

‘‘It was such a tragic event that sport becomes insignificant when something like that happens, but I suppose if you switch the TV on or you came to the ground, you might’ve been able to forget about it for 80 minutes.’’

Barrett said sport, and sportspeople, could play an important role during these times in portraying positive messages.

‘‘Just be vulnerable, that’s the key message. Be vulnerable to speak out and talk to each other, no matter what background or where you’re from.

‘‘It’s such a shame that something like this has to happen before we open up.’’

The Hurricanes play the Stormers this Saturday at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.