Thorne slams report into son's stroke

David Thorne remains partially paralysed and unable to speak after his stroke in May. Picture / John Mccombe

Former All Black Grahame Thorne says an independent report on the events that led to his son's stroke has been a waste of time.

David Thorne is partially paralysed and unable to speak since he had a stroke after playing in an under-21 club match between Huia and Waimea in Motueka on May 6.

David, 20, felt unwell after an upper-body tackle late in the match as he was going in to score a try.

Mr Thorne was convinced this tackle caused the injury to his son's carotid artery.

The Tasman Rugby Union investigated and found no particular tackle was to blame for David's injury.

But an independent report by Nelson lawyer Garry Barkle was then commissioned by the union and released last week, with a finding that the tackle in question was to blame for David's injury.

But Mr Barkle also found the tackle was not malicious or intended to cause injury.

Mr Thorne told the Herald the only thing that had changed since the commissioning of the independent report was that some of the players involved seemed to have lost their full memory of the tackle.

"It should have been nipped in the bud by [Tasman Rugby Union chief executive] Lee Germon two months ago," Mr Thorne says.

"He could have done it and closed it with the same conclusions, but it may have been that [the players'] memories had not gone so putty-like. It's not going to bring David back, let's face it."

Mr Barkle had "made some money out of it, and good on him", Mr Thorne said.

Huia under-21 team manager Daryl MacLean said the player responsible for the tackle was a shy teenager, who had shunned attention over the incident.

A lot of the players in the team had gone to school with David Thorne and had written letters wishing him a speedy recovery.

Mr Thorne said David would be leaving Christchurch's Burwood Hospital in the next fortnight.