The Hurricanes returned to training ahead of their Vodacom Super Rugby reopener but matters were far from plain sailing.

The mercury not yet 10 degrees and as the rain fell, staff were given a fight as a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in the heart of Canes territory disrupted plans.

The Hurricanes face the Blues in Auckland 20 days’ time.

‘It was like a truck rolling down the road. The whole place started shaking and it was pretty loud … It gave us a fright and brought us into the moment pretty quickly,’ said assistant coach Chris Gibbes.

Later in the day, unharmed players, coaches and support staff ventured out of the offices on to the field.

‘I haven’t been this cold or wet for a long time. The boys definitely put a good shift in considering the weather,’ added Gibbes.

‘We reminded each other of how hot it was in South Africa and Argentina … that was a long, long time ago.’

Jordie Barrett was particularly impressive with a 4 minute 20 seconds Bronco test; his brother Beauden made healdines for smashing the Blues record last week.

‘He’s a quality player. You look at that Chiefs game, he kicked a goal at the end but have a look at how he’s controlled that game with his kicking, and some of the collisions and carries, he had a massive impact on that game. He’s going from strength to strength,’ Gibbes said.

‘It will take a couple of weeks to get that momentum back, potentially, and hopefully when we play the Blues in round one we’ve got that rust out of our game and he has, too. He’s a quality, class player and a guy that works really hard at his game. I look forward to watching him go.’

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