Waratahs can draw inspiration from Crusaders' response to devastating Christchurch earthquake

AFTER losing to Melbourne, the Waratahs have spoken about measuring character by how they bounce back.

Crusaders

AFTER losing to Melbourne, the Waratahs have spoken about measuring character by how they bounce back.

As far as inspiration goes, they need only look around tonight when they run out against the Crusaders in Christchurch.

Both in the stands and opposite in red-and-black jerseys will be Cantabrians still dealing with the after-effects of the Christchurch earthquake.

It's been three years since the devastating natural disaster hit the city but the impact remains ever-present. The landscape of the city and its suburbs still bear deep scars of the quake; both in the slowly re-emerging city centre, and the outer areas where many homes have not been rebuilt.

 A glance at the grass under their feet at the new AMI Stadium tonight can remind the Waratahs just how much character they'll have to produce to match the resilience of the locals.

"It is a fantastic little ground," says the Waratahs' Kiwi backs coach Daryl Gibson, who was a Crusaders assistant coach from 2009 until last year.

"Again, it's very representative of Christchurch. A lot of facilities are temporary, they call them pop-up malls and things - they're just old containers and things. The stadium is temporary and was purpose-built for the rugby. They actually took the turf of the old AMI Stadium, Lancaster Park, and plonked that down."

It will be the Waratahs' first visit to Christchurch since the quake, which produced striking images of the old Jade Stadium field ripped.

NSW were scheduled as the next team to fly into Christchurch prior to the disaster, but after the Crusaders sat out one round, the Tahs' game was re-located to tiny Nelson.

It was already going to be an emotional night, planned as a commemorative game for victims of the West Coast mining disaster.

Now it was something far bigger. With most Crusaders players living away from their homes and wearing beards due to a lack of running water, the Christchurch community, suffering through constant after-shocks, turned to their rugby team for some hope.

"The events of a few weeks earlier were still pretty raw, and I guess a lot of people didn't understand what the squad had gone through just to get to a stage where they could play the Waratahs that day," Gibson recalled.

"It was hugely disruptive, guys weren't living in their own homes and we were going without basic amenities you'd use in normal life. Going into that game the Waratahs had won their first two games, and beaten the Reds quite impressively. We knew they were a good team and looked like the goods.

"But there was so much emotion around that game."

Crusaders

The Crusaders trailed early but stormed home, and so began a remarkable season. With no home ground, the Crusaders had to fly out every week to play games - both home and away. Despite hosting games in Nelson, Auckland and even London, the Crusaders made it all the way to the final.

They lost the decider to Queensland but ultimately gave something far more valuable to their city than a trophy, believes Gibson.

"It was pretty much a guiding light for people about coping with adversity, and what you can do even when you're under pressure," he said.

"It was really symbolic of the fact here's an event that's caused a lot of people a lot of heartache, and a team rose beyond, coping with what we were coping with.

"The team really responded to that, the fact that many people saw what we were dealing with on a day-to-day basis, and then having to up-stakes on a Thursday and go play elsewhere.

"I guess it was all around your attitude towards that challenge, and we certainly didn't want to be victims of our circumstance. We were never going to let it be an excuse."

If pressed for more tangible inspiration, the Waratahs could tonight simply turn to Gibson, who will be running among them in blue.

He's made a new life in Sydney but a short drive from the stadium is the Gibson family home; still waiting to be demolished. "Our home will be re-built. Three years on, we are still in the same position," Gibson says.

"Like a lot of people in Christchurch, it is a big waiting game."You have to get on with life."