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Birth
Brad Thorn was born in Mosgiel, a small township, roughly 10 kliometres south of Dunedin, New Zealand. -
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Career highlights
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First-class debut for NRL team Brisbane Broncos
At age 19, Thorn made his first grade debut against defending NRL premiers, the Canterbury Bulldogs. The Broncos won the match 12-10 and at the end of his 1994 season, Thorn was awarded the rookie of the year award from the Broncos club. -
State of Origin debut
Thorn was selected for his first State of Origin series. It was not the start to his State of Origin career that he would have liked, as Queensland lost the best of 3 series against New South Wales in a whitewash. -
Switch to rugby
The 2001 season saw a change in sporting codes for Thorn. He switched codes (rugby) and countries (moved to Christchurch) and entered into a one-year contract with the Crusaders and the Canterbury squads. Whie the Crusaders didn't have a succesful season (finishing 10th), Thorn enjoyed immediate success with the Canterbury NPC squad as they won the championship for that season and remained undefeated at home, meaning they held on to the Ranfurly Shield for the Summer. -
All Blacks selection
Thorn eventually got selected for the All Blacks, making him part of a selct group of sportsmen who have played international sport for two different countries in two different sports. He was part of a quite a successful season, as the All Blacks regained the Tri Nations trophy Bledisloe Cup. They aso finished third at the 2003 Rugby World Cup held in Australia. -
NPC victory
At the end of the 2004 season, Thorn finished his first stint at professional rugby in the best way possible. He was an integral part of another champion Canterbury side, as they won the NPC by comfortably defeating Wellington 40-27 in the final. They also managed to hang on to the Ranfurly Shield for the Summer. -
Winning return to League
From 2005-2007, Thorn resumed playing professional rugby league for his original club, the Brisbane Broncos. It was an extremely succesful 3 season stint, being selected for the 2005 State of Origin series as well as winning the 2006 Nrl as part of the Broncos. The Broncos defeated the Melbourne Storm 15-8 in the final. -
Winning return to rugby union
At the conclusion of the 200t season, Thorn switched codes again and returned to rugby, signing a contract with the Tasman rugby union (in the catchment of the Crusaders) and the NZRU. Again it was an extremely successful return as he was part of his first Super 14 winning team, as the Crusaders defeated the NSW Waratahs 20-12 in the final to win the 2008 Super 14. Thorn was immediately selected in the All Blacks squad, helping them win the 2008 and 2010 Tri-nations over the next 3 seasons. -
Rugby World Cup Champion
In 2011, Thorn added arguably the biggest success to his list of career achievements when he was part of the All Blacks team to win the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, the country's second win in only 24 years. They defeated France 8-7 in the final, with the 36 year-old Thorn playing a massive part in the win as one of the starting locks in the team. -
Heineken Cup champion
After the World Cup. Thorn signed a three-year contract with Japanese side Fukuoka Sanix Blues. In March of this year, Heineken Cup side Leinster were having an injury crisis within their lockin ranks, and signed Thorn on a short-term contract. Thorn enjoyed success again as Leinster won the Heineken Cup (European championship), beating fellow Irish side Ulster 42-14 in the final at Twickenham in front of 82,000 spectators. T
