Mauger: My heart sunk
Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger says his ‘‘heart sunk for the Muslim community, for New Zealand and the world’’ after the Christchurch shootings on Friday.
‘‘There has been a lot to absorb and digest over the last couple of days,’’ Mauger said yesterday.
‘‘Obviously it’s pretty devastating and scary for the people involved around the area at the time. It’s something that you just don’t imagine happening in New Zealand.’’
For Mauger, a Christchurch native, the attacks hit close to home and the coach said rugby matters had taken a back seat since the shootings.
‘‘We’ve reached out to the Muslim community already,’’ Mauger said. ‘‘We’re putting some plans in place to be a bit more involved this week where we can [with] our local mosque.
‘‘That will be our way of showing our support.’’
It’s understood that when the Highlanders gathered the side together on Saturday to tell them that night’s game against the Crusaders was off and check on their wellbeing, that message of Kiwi strength in diversity was hammered home.
The Highlanders, like all Super Rugby franchises, bring together players from many different backgrounds.
Mauger played 89 times for the Crusaders but said he wouldn’t be part of the franchise’s future discussions about a possible name change.
‘‘That’s something they’ll work though, it’s obviously being discussed, and I’m not privy to those conversations,’’ Mauger said.
‘‘I haven’t given it too much thought.’’
The decision to cancel the Highlanders v Crusaders game on Saturday will hit the Highlanders’ bottom line.
Chief executive Roger Clark said the franchise was not insured to cover the losses of not staging its biggest game of the year but discussions on Friday night and Saturday night had made it clear it was the right thing to do.
‘‘The way Saturday panned out for all of us was something we’d never been through before,’’ Clark said.
‘‘It started at 8am [on Saturday] and didn’t finish until we announced the game was off.
‘‘In that time things happened that had never occurred before so we had to work out that a lot of people needed to be consulted, a large number of stakeholders, including the young men that had to go out there and play the game.’’
Clark confirmed that the police had told the Highlanders on Saturday morning the game could proceed but the security green light was just one part of the broader discussions.
‘‘That was an issue at that stage but obviously there were wider issues that we had to canvass as well. Some of the wider issues were our local Muslim community and all the people that had passed away.
‘‘Was it respectful to be able to hold a game of rugby?’’
Clark said the Highlanders were keen to restore a bit of normality to life by playing the Blues in Auckland on Friday.
‘‘For all of us that’s a big part
of it,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re all back at work today doing our jobs and the team are doing the same.
‘‘I’m sure come [the Blues game] we’ll show our respect . . . the boys will work that out themselves and we’ll get on out there and play a bloody good game of rugby.’’
The Highlanders, however, will have to do that without the services of All Blacks flanker Liam Squire.
Squire had been due to play his first game of the season against the Blues on Friday but Mauger revealed he had torn his medial ligaments in training and will be out for eight to 10 weeks.