Thorne says no to Junior All Blacks
29 May 2006
Former All Blacks captain Rueben Thorne will not take up the captaincy of the Junior All Blacks.
Thorne, who captained the All Blacks at the 2003 World Cup, withdrew from the Junior All Blacks after being made captain.
“Reuben is an extremely experienced player who holds himself to very high standards and we respect his decision,” said All Blacks coach Graham Henry. “We picked him for the Junior All Blacks because of his good form and leadership abilities but he tells us he needs a recovery window right now, so that’s the best thing.”
The 31-year-old Thorne played in every Super 14 match for the title-winning Crusaders this season. He has won six Super rugby titles with the Crusaders and played in more than 100 matches. He also won 23 and drew one of his 28 tests as captain of the All Blacks. Since Henry took over from John Mitchell, he has not been in the mix.
14 Comments
29 May 2006, 08:05 am
Hey cane, race you, last one a dragon!
29 May 2006, 08:07 am
Beaten by a better man Koos,
My handbag slipped off my shoulder and caused a delay–next time
29 May 2006, 08:09 am
29 May 2006, 08:22 am
You can’t help but admire Reuben for happily getting on and GIVING his very best despite all the insults and demotions he is handed.
He must be the ultimate team man
29 May 2006, 08:51 am
Dragon or drag queen?
Maskara Mccaw and Highlights Henry must be extremely dissapointed….
29 May 2006, 09:22 am
A damn disgrace to lower a player of his caliber to da b team happy he said no.
29 May 2006, 09:37 am
So what would you do if you were Henry pompies?
The man is not the best blind side in NZ, Collins clearly has a mortgage on that spot. He sure as hell is not in the top 5 locks where he is often used as a utility by Deans, so where does he fit in?
Henry has a hard on for Troy Flavel. While he is fit and not suspended, the role of utility side row forward/lock is stapled onto Flavel’s hide.
29 May 2006, 10:24 am
Respect to Reuben it could not have been an easy decision and my guess is he will make next years Super 14 his last hurrah.A solid and committed player who has a proud record and is a great statesman for the game of rugby.A true role model for the youngsters and shrewd thinker on the park.
29 May 2006, 11:53 am
the junior all black ha ha what a kak name… a 31 year old playing for the juniors ha ha ha…
29 May 2006, 15:01 pm
Ah ha Rubes, demoted to where you should be. The most Average boring player in New Zealand Rugby ever. Should play league with a one dimensional mentality like his. He only played one good match for the ALl Blacks in his entire career and that was against South Africa when we trounced you at Loftus by 50 (i think) before the world cup. Take your overseas contract and run Thorne, its the best you can do.
29 May 2006, 22:34 pm
NZMaori, have you ever seen him play live?
He is the ultimate backup player, he doesn’t get seen on TV because he is in the background doing the grunt and support work not the exciting glory stuff, but the team comes first and he would add value to any S14 team. He’ll be great for the juniors
29 May 2006, 23:05 pm
Hey Hori, get back in your hole. I’m not a great fan of Thornes, but he does the hard yards.
30 May 2006, 04:59 am
Justme
dont judge me with your rascist slur on this site please. We are all entitled to our rugby opinions. You guys respect Thorne too much. I would put him in with the Bulls any day, suits that boring style
30 May 2006, 06:51 am
Reuben Thorne is great crusader but sometimes great provinicial players do not make great internationals. But on form I would have him there or there abouts.
Lauaki
Collins
Newby
All good players, so Thorne’s exclusion is justified to a certain degree, but a great stalwart for crusader rugby. I like the way he plays.
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