Reuben David Thorne (born 2 January 1975) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, and former captain of the national team, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

. Now involved with Big Brother Big Sister and is the Christ College first xv coach.

Professional career and the All Blacks

Super 12

Playing as a flanker, Thorne first appeared in the

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

with the Canterbury Crusaders in 1998. He became captain in 2002, immediately leading the Crusaders to Super 12 victory in an unprecedented "perfect" season—13 wins from 13 games. In 2003 and 2004 the Crusaders were runners-up in the Super 12 under his leadership. Thorne was a rarity among All Blacks, especially captains, in that he never made an international appearance at any age-group level. He earned his first All Black cap in 1999, playing a single test against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

before the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup. Taking over as captain from an injured

Anton Oliver Anton David Oliver (born 9 September 1975) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Previously, he played as a hooker for Marlborough (one of the predecessors to today's Tasman side) and Otago in the National Provincial Championship and A ...

, he led the All Blacks throughout 2002 and 2003, apart from a brief tour of the UK and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in November 2002 which he missed due to a chronic ankle problem, causing former captain Taine Randell to be briefly recalled to the skipper's role. Although the team's record was excellent under Thorne's leadership (playing 22 test matches for 19 wins and 3 losses, and winning the Tri Nations Series both years and the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has varied, as has the n ...

in 2003), his captaincy ended on a low note as the team was eliminated by the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

in the semi-finals of the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup. Following the World Cup, Thorne was replaced as All Blacks captain by

Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He is head coach of Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby competition. He was granted ...

. Thorne appeared again for the All Blacks on the 2004 end of year tour, where he was an unused reserve against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and started as a lock against the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. He was called in as a replacement for Jono Gibbes, who was ruled out of the tour due to injury. His record as an All Black stands at 50 tests played (22 as captain) for 42 wins and 8 losses, with 5 tries scored.

Super 14

On 28 May 2006 Thorne was named captain for the 2006

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

seaso

but the next day he withdrew from the squad to undertake "a recovery and reconditioning programme.

Thorne was a surprise selection for the All Blacks for the 2006 Tri Nations Series when it was named on 26 June 2006. On 22 July 2006, he played his first test for the All Blacks since the 2003 Rugby World Cup, against the same team he debuted against, the

. He was then rested for the first half of the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rug ...

as part of the All Blacks reconditioning programme. He returned to play for the Crusaders that year, and was picked in the All Blacks squad for the 2007 Tri Nations Series and the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

. Although he did play in the 2007 World Cup he was not in the team for the All Blacks quarter-final loss to

. On 29 November 2007 Thorne announced that following the 2008 Super 14 season he left New Zealand to play for Yamaha Jubilo in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He currently plays for the Honda Heat. Thorne was called into the Crusaders squad following numerous injuries for matches in South Africa in the 2011 Super 15. Thorne made his return on the bench against the Cheetahs.

References

External links

*
Profile at Canterbury RFU official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Reuben 1975 births New Zealand international rugby union players Canterbury rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan Shizuoka Blue Revs players People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Christchurch 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players

Professional career and the All Blacks

Super 12

Super 14

See also

References

External links