Few New Zealand players have suffered as much from unfair and inaccurate criticism as Reuben Thorne, an admirable tight-loose forward, who for more than a decade between 1997 and 2008 gave Canterbury, the Crusaders and the All Blacks exemplary service.

Thorne was a classical example of the player’s player. In other words, as with so many in the blindside flank position, which requires so much unglamorous donkey work, Thorne’s worth was generally only recognised by those playing with or against him.

Especially unfair were constant references to Thorne as “Captain Invisible,” which was more a commentary on his critics’ ignorance as a reflection of Thorne’s abilities. Those critics should have remembered one of the game’s enduring truisms ... that the most effective work in the tight is often achieved by those forwards who are rarely seen.

What made Thorne so invaluable and appreciated by every team and coach for whom he played was his high work rate, his power as a scrummager and as a lineout option and his powerful, close quarter defence. And with his calm personality he was also a successful leader.

Though Canterbury-born, Thorne spent most of his childhood and teenage years in the North Island and played for one of the country’s best first XVs at New Plymouth Boys High School. Even then, though, Thorne tended to be an unobtrusive grafter and was never selected for a national age group sides.

His rise as a first class player came when he returned to Canterbury to attend Lincoln College. As a member of the High School Old Boys club he played twice in 1996 as a Canterbury representative, winning a regular spot as a lock in 1997. That year, under the coaching for the first time of Robbie Deans, Canterbury won the national provincial championship.

Thorne’s promising performances were rewarded with promotion to the Crusaders for the 1998 Super 12 and he was a member of the sides which won a hat-trick of titles in 1998-2000.

He became an All Black in the 1999 season, making that year’s World Cup squad being used now mainly as a blindside flanker. For the next couple of years Thorne remained in All Black squads, though he battled for a regular spot, often being used from the bench.

He finally became an automatic first choice in the 2002 season, when the new All Black coaching team of Deans and John Mitchell promoted him to the captaincy. Thorne, in the meantime, had continued to have rare success with Canterbury and the Crusaders. He was in the Canterbury side which won the Ranfurly Shield in 2000, the side which held the shield and won the NPC in 2001, again in a shield winning side in 2004 and captained the Crusaders to the Super 12 title in 2002 and was in the side which won the 2005-06 titles.

The new coaching team headed by Graham Henry gave Thorne few chances in the 2004-05 seasons and in the latter year he was even relegated to captaincy of the Junior All Blacks, for which he was subsequently unavailable but which struck many as a somewhat needless insult.

Thorne was recalled, however, for the 2006-07 seasons, apparently for his off-field value as a squad mentor. He was even made captain for one of the tests, leading the All Blacks to their 64-13 win over Canada to give him a test captaincy record of 20 wins from 23 matches. Thorne was in the 2007 World Cup and, despite being affected by an injury, played as a lock in the two pool games against Scotland and Romania. One of the big disappointments for Thorne would have been being in three World Cup squads in 1999, 2003 and 2007 to have suffered disappointing exits. The other player to have been in all those frustrating tournaments was halfback Byron Kelleher.

Those 2007 World Cup matches brought his test tally to 50. And when he farewelled New Zealand rugby after the 2008 World Cup to take up a Japanese contract Thorne had played well over 100 games for the Crusaders and 72 games for Canterbury.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Reuben David Thorne

BORN

Thursday, 2 January 1975 in Christchurch

AGE

35

PHYSICAL

1.92m, 107kg

POSITION

Loose Forward

LAST SCHOOL

New Plymouth Boys' High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Christchurch HSOB

PROVINCE

Canterbury

SUPER 14 TEAM

Crusaders

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 7 August 1999
v South Africa at Pretoria
aged 24 years, 217 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 7 August 1999
v South Africa at Pretoria
aged 24 years, 217 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 29 September 2007
v Romania at Toulouse
aged 32 years, 270 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

50 (23 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

1 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

51 (23 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

25pts (5t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

0pts

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

25pts (5t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

988

The All Black Games that Thorne played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1999

 7 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 34-18 (+) 

 3 Oct vs Tonga at Bristol 45-9  

 9 Oct vs England at London 30-16  

 24 Oct vs Scotland at Edinburgh 30-18  

 31 Oct vs France at London 31-43  

 4 Nov vs South Africa at Cardiff 18-22 (-) 

2000

 16 Jun vs Tonga at Albany 102-0  

 1 Jul vs Scotland at Auckland 48-14  

 5 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 23-24 (+) 

 11 Nov vs France at Paris 39-26  

 18 Nov vs France at Marseille 33-42 (-) 

2001

 16 Jun vs Samoa at Albany 50-6  

 23 Jun vs Argentina at Christchurch 67-19  

 30 Jun vs France at Wellington 37-12  

 21 Jul vs South Africa at Cape Town 12-3  

 11 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 15-23  

 17 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 40-29  

 24 Nov vs Scotland at Edinburgh 37-6  

 1 Dec vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 24-20  

2002

 8 Jun vs Italy at Hamilton 64-10  (Captain)

 15 Jun vs Ireland at Dunedin 15-6  (Captain)

 22 Jun vs Ireland at Auckland 40-8  (Captain)

 29 Jun vs Fiji at Wellington 68-18  (Captain)

 13 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 12-6  (Captain)

 20 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 41-20  (Captain)

 3 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 14-16  (Captain)

 10 Aug vs South Africa at Durban 30-23  (Captain)

2003

 14 Jun vs England at Wellington 13-15  (Captain)

 21 Jun vs Wales at Hamilton 55-3  (Captain)

 28 Jun vs France at Christchurch 31-23  (Captain)

 19 Jul vs South Africa at Pretoria 52-16  (Captain)

 26 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 50-21  (Captain)

 9 Aug vs South Africa at Dunedin 19-11  (Captain)

 16 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 21-17  (Captain)

 11 Oct vs Italy at Melbourne 70-7  (Captain)

 17 Oct vs Canada at Melbourne 68-6  (Captain)

 24 Oct vs Tonga at Brisbane 91-7 (-) (Captain)

 2 Nov vs Wales at Sydney 53-37  (Captain)

 8 Nov vs South Africa at Melbourne 29-9  (Captain)

 15 Nov vs Australia at Sydney 10-22  (Captain)

 20 Nov vs France at Sydney 40-13  (Captain)

2004

 4 Dec vs Barbarians at London 47-19 (-) 

2006

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 35-17  

 26 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 45-26  

 5 Nov vs England at London 41-20 (-) 

 25 Nov vs Wales at Cardiff 45-10 (+) 

2007

 2 Jun vs France at Auckland 42-11  

 16 Jun vs Canada at Hamilton 64-13  (Captain)

 14 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 33-6  

 23 Sep vs Scotland at Edinburgh 40-0  

 29 Sep vs Romania at Toulouse 85-8  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs France, 30 Jun 2001

1

-

-

-

5

vs Ireland, 17 Nov 2001

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 20 Jul 2002

1

-

-

-

5

vs Italy, 11 Oct 2003

1

-

-

-

5

vs Australia, 15 Nov 2003

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

5

0

0

0

25

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

7

3

-

4

1

-

-

-

5

Canada

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

England

3

2

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Fiji

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

7

5

-

2

1

-

-

-

5

Ireland

3

3

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Italy

2

2

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Romania

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Samoa

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

4

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

11

10

-

1

1

-

-

-

5

Tonga

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wales

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

50

42

0

8

5

0

0

0

25