Start with the disclaimers. 

This is not to motivate replacing Jerry, he is the no.6.  This was done late at night in my own difficult to follow handwriting, the ink ran in my pocket when I cycled into work (yes those are water marks for the grubby minded).  There may be inaccuracies (please excuse the typos etc.), there certainly are elements of poetic license, but a good faith attempts has been made to be accurate. Finally this is not Cantab Man Love, I am a Marlborough lad. 

I was inspired to do this analysis by a couple of things:

1. The Pavlovian criticisms of Thorne and the coaching staff in a number of threads;

2. My recent acquisition of a mutt's nuts HDD thingies, with wonderful slow mo and zoom options;

3. The hope that people will give a little more thought to their analysis before putting the boot into our players, especially those that have, and continue to, contribute to the team; and

4. Given the recent prohibition on one liners I thought I would drive Bart to distraction having to read this much material.

Along with the great questions/mysteries of our age, such as "why are we here", is Nessie real, what happened in Area 69, how do I answer "Do I look fat in this?" and "is this rash normal", is perhaps the most frequently posed rugby puzzler; "what does Thorne actually do"?

Now it seemed unlikely to me that a guy who played as many tests and S14 games as Thorne, been picked by so many coaches and praised by so many team mates could be as toilet as the talk back intelligentsia who have us think.  What was it about this man that meant he kept being picked?  Surely he could not have pictures of all those coaches in compromising positions and family ties with each of them is unlikely, even in the relatively tight gene pool of Aotearoa.  So I decided to actually watch him, which I guess from some of the comments posted, may put me firmly in the minority.

Another who does this is Tracy Nelson from Haka, and she posts stats after each game.  Thorne, as was the case last weekend, regularly tops stats such as first three to breakdowns and tackle count.  Useful enough stats but what do they mean?  I decided to watch the test again late on Tuesday night as my jet lag affected mind tried to convince me that I was still in London.  Bearing in mind that I did not list every ruck he was one of the first three to, or tackle he made, I tried to appreciate what was the affect of what he did.  Here is what I saw,

Anthem   Thorne looks composed, almost Zen like, despite the adoring and inappropriately amorous glances from the singer. Thorne demonstrates nice vocal range, Ritchie wipes a tear from his eye at the beauty of the melodious moment.

Haka   Experience obvious here as he is the very personification of mana, channeling the spirit of those that have worn the Black jersey before him.  The fear in the eyes of the Bokke is apparent.

00.38   The potent South African blackline is immediately on the attack as Hougaard takes on Thorne.  Thorne hammers the Bok no. 10 in a shattering tackle, resulting in the first turnover of the match.

1.20   First example of Thorne’s invaluable support as he is the first man over Mils to secure possession and prevent a turnover/penalty for holding on.

3.26   Mils again has Thorne in support as the Fullback is caught in possession midway between the Kiwi 22 and 10 metre line.  Again the ball is secured by Thorne and no kickable penalty gifted to the Saffers.  From the ball supplied by Thorne, So’oialo wakes a fine break.

6.50   Rokocoko runs back a South African in kick and is tackled.  The nervous fans can relax as support is immediately on hand in the form of Mr. Reliable to secure possession and prevent a turnover/penalty for holding on.

7.20   First run for Thorne as he takes the ball on the blind.  Nothing special about the run, and indeed critics will probably claim it demonstrates how ineffectual he is as he does not break a single tackle.  However, it may also show his spatial awareness as he holds back a pass having spotted the lurking flea.  Carter kicks the penalty.

18.37   This incident has been cited as one of Thorne’s “mistakes”.  Cronje feeds Pienaar who makes a good blindside dash. Watching it again it is difficult to see what Thorne could have done to stop the number 8 to halfback pass move and Pienaar was too wide of Thorne to effect a tackle.

20.40   Thorne the ball carrier again, making good yards.  However, the more interesting bit is the next phase where Hayman is isolated and penalized, as no one is there to secure the ball, something we can normally rely on Thorne to do.  The Saffers can relieve the pressure.

22.00   Thorne penalized for a “head high” tackle, gifting 3 points to the Saffers.  Make your own call on that decision.

28.15   First line out win for Thorne, who is tops the AB lineout wins on own throw on the night.

28.15   Nice snappy work by Thorne as half back to keep the momentum on attack.

29.34   McAllister executes a woeful chip but does well to regain before tossing a poor pass which Thorne cleans up.

38.24   Cronje takes the ball off the back and makes “good yards”, another event Thorne has been criticized for.  He was probably late in detaching but there is a bit of an optical illusion (thanks Steve) here.  Cronje’s “good yards” are mainly sideways (or  lateral) benefiting from the angle of the scrum to make his start.  Looking at the field markings you see he makes little progress before being taken by Thorne, who has run a different angle to Cronje. 

39.00   Good footwork by Thorne to almost secure the tighthead .

39.38-39.57   Again Mils is caught in possession near the 22 but the turnover/penalty is prevent by getting numbers over the ball (number six as it happens).  Rodders makes another fine break using the ball secured by Thorne.  Rodders again appears isolated, and the ball at threat, until Thorne hits the ruck and secures it yet again.

Halftime   Demolishes three oranges and four litres of water.  Lets Ted do the team talk, just nodding occasionally in support of pertinent points.

40.00   Boks look shattered, having hoped Thorne would be rested for RWC, having mentioned it to Henry in the tunnel at half time.

41.20   Clear ball from the back of the lineout from Thorne gives McAllister the chance to break the Saffers line with a lovely run, Carter’s ineffectual cross field chip (not so good).

42.40   Thorne misses the throw, or is it overthrown by Mealamu.  Please form your queues here to debate that.

43.00   Carter caught in possession, but no turnover as Thorne is there to secure ball and a good break results down the right touch from the Thorne won possession.

49.19   Great support work from Thorne hitting a maul enabling Mils to pop free and continue his run before finally being tackled.  Of course he once again has Thorne over him preventing the turnover.

51.19   Thorne burgles the ball from the back of a Saffer ruck, effecting yet another turnover.  Rodders again is the beneficiary of the ball won by Thorne and makes a muscular run into the Bok 22.  At the resulting ruck, PJ Wannayellowburg is carded and Carter puts the All Black comfortably ahead.

54.44-55.10   Thorne’s good support of Mils once again secures possession.  Unfortunately Carter’s kick hands (foots) the ball back to the gleeful Saffers, at least until 55.06 when Thorne effects the turnover and from the resulting attack the All Black look good, until Thorne drops a pass from Rodders.  What has he ever done for the AB’s?

57.43-58.49   Thorne’s strong run takes us deep into the South African 22.  A phase or two later a penalty for Howlett holding on (“Thorne the ball carrier” meant no “Thorne the less sexy support man”) is reversed due to an impromptu revival of Riverdance by Albert Van der Burg and Carter slots it from a tricky angle after some advice from Thorne.

63.52   Henry feels sorry for White, who has almost finished weaving his third basket and has started rocking slowly back and forth.  Ted brings on Collins and moves Thorne to lock.  Perhaps the enhanced mobility provided by having both Thorne and Collins contributes to what follows?

64.17   Thorne knocks as from a “hospital pass”, short advantage so no harm done other than to Henry’s blood pressure at almost losing his star.

66   Collins contrast moment, as he hammers Cronje behind the advance line, in contrast to Thorne @ 38.24.  However again useful for comparison. Look at how the scrum twisted, away from the sideline, meaning Cronje didn’t get the start he did in the first half, and Collins can run a direct line to take his man from behind.

66.54   Thorne takes more ball in the lineout, just as the commentators are talking about the pressure on Jack.

70.48   Good covering work to secure ball, from South African kick.

71.35   Leonard looks to be isolated with superior South African numbers over the ball, that is until Thorne claims it.  From that possession Mils chips the defense and only a bad bounce prevents a try.

73.50-75.04   Masoe once again needs support and Thorne simply leans on the ruck, accidentally securing possession and allowing the attack to continue until Hore is caught (at 74.38). Thorne is the first man there but is only a sad third man to the very next ruck in support of Masoe.  In the next phase, Evan scores.  Thorne hits 3 rucks in 6 phases of a try scoring move.

79.30   This time Rokocoko is caught in possession but Thorne is first in support.  The resulting helter skelter play is not pretty, Thorne in support of Collins at 80.28 before Smith throws a hospital pass to Woodcock.  Smith recovers the ball, with Joe over him.  The Bok 18 tries to disrupt the All Black ball but Thorne prevents that and from the resulting move Carter scores.

So what you have is a busy and effective player who wins and maintains possession for us.  He is not as explosive as others but he contributes in a material way to allowing others to deliver.  What Saturday showed, to me at least, is if we didn't have a Thorne we would have been at risk of more turnovers and potentially penalties.  Players such as Mils and Rok would feel less able to counter attack as the support might not be there (as happened with Hayman and Howlett where Thorne was at the bottom of a ruck and couldn't provide the support).  It is not flashy stuff, it is not immediately accessible to casual observers and it isn't sexy but it helps win games.  I suspect it might go some way to understanding why he gets selected.

So I hope we all try and give Thorne and the other guys a fair go when reviewing them from the comfort of our armchairs.  Try to work as hard in making decent assessments as they do in researching the standards they do.  I am not saying adore Thorne, or any other player, but at least make an effort to see what they contribute.

I have done a similar break down of the Paris Hilton video if anyone is interested.