By CHRIS RATTUE
Lock
Age: 28
Height: 1.95m
Weight: 113kg
NPC team: Canterbury
Super 12: Crusaders
Super 12 games: 24
Test debut: 2003
Test caps: 5
The All Blacks' answer to Clint Eastwood - a strong, silent type who would have been right at home running around with short back and sides next to Colin Meads and Kel Tremain in the 1960s.
But Thorn isn't out of a time warp. Instead, this hulking hunk of a human being comes from the hurly burly of Australian rugby league.
Code-swapping is hardly news these days. Australia would struggle to field a credible backline without league products, the All Blacks have Tana Umaga, and England include livewire wing Jason Robinson.
But Thorn has done something exceptional - an international rugby league forward who has made it into a leading test rugby pack.
Running the ball up and hitting hard in defence were the easy parts for Thorn, but set-piece skill, rugby instinct and positional awareness, plus the tackled ball area, were a different matter.
Rugby lifers struggle with the ruck and maul rules, and league forwards are not used to grovelling in the dirt for the ball or cleaning away human debris while computing 63.5 IRB laws.
In rugby league, Thorn was an upright, high-speed slab.
A lack of dexterity meant he might struggle as a rugby loose forward, but he has locked on to lock.
The All Blacks' scrum seems to improve when rugby's answer to a tower block rumbles on to the field, and Thorn has proved surprisingly adept in the lineout, although mainly gathering short throws when he can launch himself forward, blocking out pilfering hands.
Doubts still surround his middle-of-the-lineout work and ability to steal opponents' throws. There is, after all, a lot of Thorn to lift and he is not as spring-heeled, lanky or experienced as many opponents.
Thorn may even still lack some overall test-class finesse, but All Blacks fans will mutter: "Go ahead, hunk, make our day".
<i>All Black profile:</i> Brad Thorn
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