KEY POINTS:
Most players can win 20 caps in two seasons. Not Brad Thorn.
The big man from Mosgiel made his 20th test appearance last night, more than five years after his debut against Wales in June 2003.
It has taken Thorn an age to win, what by modern standards,
is a modest number of caps.
But the statistics don't get close to portraying the real impact of Thorn or the essence of his back-story, which is far more compelling than the numbers reveal.
Thorn could just as easily have been playing his 50th test last night. Only the choices he has made have restricted his appearances.
Remember, he turned down an All Black debut in 2001 when he couldn't be sure his heart was in rugby. That's the kind of bloke he is. Others would have taken the jersey and the peripheral rewards. Not Thorn.
He needed to be sure he was committed to the 15-man code after so long in the NRL. When he heard his name read out to tour Scotland, Ireland and Argentina in 2001, it didn't feel as if he was fulfilling his destiny. So he deferred, until the call in June 2003.
By then he was sure. By then he was also starting to look like a union player and he went to the World Cup that year. Ali Williams was injured for the early games and Thorn took his chance. The power, the mobility and the graft in the tight started to make a few wonder just how good Thorn could become.
The excitement died soon after when Graham Henry took over and didn't see Thorn as a traditional set-piece lock. That was the end of Thorn's fleeting rugby career. Or at least it would have been had the new rules not been implemented this year.
Out of the blue, Thorn came flying back onto the radar when he thundered around for the Crusaders, having been surprisingly signed by Robbie Deans.
After a few weeks of Super 14, Thorn was a must-start All Black. It felt as if he had never returned to the NRL between 2004 and 2007.
He is now part of the All Black furniture and it doesn't seem right that he has only played 20 tests. He's a senior All Black - the kind of bloke whose very presence in the boiler room helps people breathe easier.
His game time since Brisbane before last night was one appearance for Tasman and the hit-out against the Barbarians.
Such a light schedule should have been a concern. But with Thorn, you know he'll have been training fiercely in his down time and you knew that his engine, his passion and spirit would take him through the 80 if he was asked to empty the tank.
