{"id":569435,"date":"2025-11-14T08:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/569435\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T08:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:20:12","slug":"all-blacks-legend-brad-thorns-dirty-admission-over-england-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/569435\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks legend Brad Thorn’s ‘dirty’ admission over England rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brad Thorn\u2019s record against England<\/a> was played five, won five. It\u2019s fair to say he enjoyed the fixture, and not just because of the end result.<\/p>\n

Thorn admits he\u2019d be \u2018salivating\u2019 at the prospect of running out at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, this Saturday, if he were in the All Blacks<\/a> team right now.<\/p>\n

Never one to hold back as a ball carrier or in the tackle, the sight of a white jersey brought out another level of aggression in the dual-code player \u2013 even in charity matches.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Thorn famously rearranged the ribs of plummy reality TV star Jamie Laing, when playing for a World XV<\/a> against an England XV<\/a> in the inaugural RugbyAid match.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I would be salivating if I was playing, 82,000 at Twickenham and you get to bash white jerseys and make them dirty,\u201d Thorn told RugbyPass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to hate how clean those white jerseys were. I used to look at them and think I can\u2019t wait to get them dirty; they were pristine white. It was like a red rag to a bull.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thorn was talking to RugbyPass from Cyprus, where Malta, who he\u2019s been coaching for the past month, are preparing to play in the Rugby Europe Conference.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for the former NRL player, who won 59 caps for the All Blacks, the game should be finished in time for him to sit back and watch the Twickenham showdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the big test, to get past England. I am sure England will be feeling pretty primed; they\u2019ll have had eyes on the All Blacks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a good old battle. You have got two pretty determined coaches. Borthwick has had some time in the saddle now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having earned hard-won victories against Ireland<\/a> and Scotland, the All Blacks are halfway to completing a Grand Slam of the Home Unions. Thorn was a member of the last touring squad to achieve the feat in 2010, having also done so two years earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was involved in two Grand Slam tours \u2013 they were pretty special. I think in the first one we hardly let in any tries (two), and in 2010, with Smithy as the defence coach, we didn\u2019t let in many either (four). We defended well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will be a huge part of the game on Saturday. England will be looking to shut down (Cam) Roigard, and on the other side, the All Blacks will be looking to shut down the English. It should be a great Test.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2011 Rugby World Cup<\/a> winner will have eyes on Fabian Holland<\/a>, the young Dutch lock who was Player of the Match against Ireland in Chicago.<\/p>\n

The kid-giant hasn\u2019t missed a single game in his debut year as a senior international and Thorn is excited to see how good the 23-year-old will be a few years down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s shown a lot of promise. He has a very good work rate, and in that position, it is about work rate and physicality, and obviously he has got his core roles, the lineout and stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, you grow. I am not saying he isn\u2019t physical now, but over time he\u2019ll grow that physicality \u2013 he could be a pretty special, dominant tight-head lock. You wish him the best as a young man at the start of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holland, flanker Simon Parker<\/a> and wing Leroy Carter<\/a> have enjoyed breakout seasons, as Scott Robertson<\/a> looks to inject young blood into the All Blacks squad. Painful lessons have been learnt along the way, notably the record hiding in Wellington<\/a> at the hands of the Springboks, and six of Robertson\u2019s 24 Tests in charge have been losses.<\/p>\n

Usually, a win percentage of 75% would stand up well, but as Thorn points out, his good friend of the past 25 years isn\u2019t allowed any leeway, given the nature of the All Blacks\u2019 job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of transition there. That team that won in 2011, and went on to win in 2015, you think about Richie McCaw<\/a> and Dan Carter, those guys learnt some hard lessons until they eventually sneaked past the post in 2011 and then exploded in the next four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the All Blacks, you always say your job is to win. Other nations can have periods where they are not winning, they are building, but we have to build and still win.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott is giving guys opportunities and is trying to develop his team to win a World Cup, that\u2019s the standard he is trying to get to, and in the meantime, he is trying to put those pieces together to keep winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is pretty quick to jump on; 75%, you are kidding yourself, but that is not bad, and it can change over time. Let\u2019s see what that is like at the end of Scott\u2019s career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Thorn\u2019s record against England was played five, won five. It\u2019s fair to say he enjoyed the fixture,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-569435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115547080159099036","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}