Quake rocks away-game team | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Mid-Canterbury rugby players were shaken awake early in Masterton on Saturday, as their families phoned with news of the massive earthquake at home.

The magnitude 7.1 quake hit some hard, with some team members hearing that farm buildings had been damaged or destroyed, team manager Trevor Best said.

Other properties had lost hot water as cylinders shifted and damage was still being discovered.

"Those sorts of stories will be just endless."

The team was in town to play Wairarapa-Bush, and staying at Copthorne Hotel and Resort Solway Park.

Their sleep was interrupted soon after the 4.35am quake hit their families and properties, and the phone calls started coming through.

"I got a call from my sister," second-five Richard Catherwood said. "She was doing the sister thing, seeing if I was okay ... I said 'I'm actually in Wairarapa'."

Catherwood said his room-mate also received a phone call from his sister and as news filtered through teammates sat around their hotel TV sets watching for news.

"It was on BBC World," Catherwood said. "There were no details, just an earthquake in New Zealand."

At breakfast, team members supported and updated each other, and the morning was spent watching news of the quake and talking on the phone with family.

Players heard stories of televisions and vases falling down and breaking, and Catherwood said he had "heard of a lot of chimneys coming down". "A couple of the dairy farmers were worried about their rotary sheds and the power, and whether milking could go ahead, but apparently it did," Catherwood said.

"Everyone in the team seems to be okay. Nobody seems to be panicking.

"Watching it this morning there haven't been too many injuries. It's lucky really."

Mr Best said he had received an "endless stream of texts" about the earthquake.

Some of the news reports had been particularly close to home for some players. The Brown Pub at Methven had been destroyed and a historic homestead at Hororata, Mr Best said. "A lot of the players live in the area of these.

"In some ways we knew more than they did. We were watching TV all day and they didn't have any power," Mr Best said.

The shake-up at home did not seem to rattle Mid-Canterbury's performance on the field. They went on to beat Wairarapa-Bush 30-17.