Rugby: Big bad Brad Thorn's back - can he haunt the Blues again?

Reds coach Brad Thorn. photo / Getty

The merest hint that the Reds, one place above the Blues on the Super Rugby table, might be favourites to win at Eden Park tonight draws a hearty laugh from their coach Brad Thorn, the notoriously tough former All Black who knows a trap when he sees one.

"Mate, with the year we've had I don't take anything for granted," he told the Herald. "The last thing I want to hear is that we're the favoured team. Against the Sunwolves we were favoured…"

That was a bad one for the Reds and their new coach Thorn. In May they travelled to Tokyo after a good victory at Suncorp Stadium against the Lions, last year's beaten finalists, but were soundly beaten around the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium pitch and limped to a 63-28 defeat, their opponents scoring two converted tries in the final two minutes.

Thorn, who had a development role at the Reds for two years before he was approached by the board to take over at a failing franchise, expected a challenge in his first year at this level and he's got one.

He uses a house renovation as an analogy and he has gutted the place – the divisive No10 Quade Cooper has gone, with fullback Karmichael Hunt, charged with cocaine possession by police (later dropped), also out. The foundations are being re-built and the former All Blacks lock is positive about how it looks.

"It's a bit of a fixer-upper – a massive one," Thorn said. "For example, we didn't have a list [full roster] when I took over. There were no trial games, we had to play an internal trial and the Fijian Drua (who play in Australian National Rugby Championship]. I basically filled the list by bringing in a lot of my young guys who I'd been coaching for a couple of years – I've got a lot of 18, 19, 20-year-olds.

"Some guys have got in a bit of strife, as you would have seen. Some guys I've moved on. This year was always going to be a solid year… if I can get through this year I think there's some reasonable pay-dirt coming.

"The Sunwolves game was the first we went into as favourites and we didn't handle it well. We've been in games… but haven't been getting the wins. There are a lot of positives – I'm learning all the time. I went from league to union and union back to league and all that; I had to learn fast. I know how to do that."

Thorn's reliance on youth applies to a large extent to the Blues and their coach Tana Umaga too, as he acknowledges. The Reds have won four matches, one more than the Blues, and are a place above their rivals in 12th.

A victory at Eden Park would be especially sweet for the 43-year-old who enjoyed so many battles – and that's what they were – for the Crusaders and All Blacks.

A couple of hours after his team's captain's run, Thorn tells the Herald of his return to one of his favourite stomping grounds: "It was cool – a few guys asked me about it and so I started thinking about it. I remember playing there in 2001, I think it was my first start in Super Rugby and it was my second game. Ron Cribb was in the Blues team and he was at the Crusaders the year before. I was new to rugby. We won in 2003 there - we won the Bledisloe back. We played in a grand final in 2003 there [a loss to the Blues].

"I played in a few tests there and didn't lose one. Of course in 2011 during World Cup we played the quarters, the semis and the final there. I always felt good running out there, especially in a black jersey. It felt like we were going to be a pretty hard team to beat when I was wearing black.

"It felt good to be out there."

* In tomorrow's Weekend Herald: Thorn's verdict on his toughest All Blacks teammate and why the fire still burns.