After 22 seasons of rugby league and union, Bradley Carnegie Thorn is considering ‘hanging up the boots’.
The 40-year-old New Zealand lock is currently enjoying the Aviva Premiership hunt with Leicester Tigers but admits it might be time ‘to let other guys do it’.
Thorn has given a fascinating interview to ESPNscrum and, in it, discusses a career that has taken him from New Zealand to Australia, Japan, Ireland and England. He wants to head “home” to Brisbane [he emigrated from New Zealand at the age of 9] but believes he will always stay involved in the game.
‘It’s not just the team winning but it’s me personally competing,’ he says. ‘It’s now me competing against age. No one can halt Old Father Time. I’ve always looked for many things to compete and anything I can grab for a drive. I love physicality. But the number one thing I love is camaraderie.’
Interestingly, Thorn lists Heineken Cup success, achieved with Leinster in 2012, at the top of his career achievements, along with clinching three NRL Grand Final titles.
‘When I held up the cup with Brian O’Driscoll,’ he proclaims, ‘that was just gold.’
Thorn was part of the All Blacks team that won the World Cup in 2011 but admits it ‘was a duty to my country’ rather than a thrill-ride or a cherished memory.
He says, ‘There was too much on the line. There’s too much at stake.
‘I was a senior member of that team and it was a job I just had to get done and then move on with my life. Even to my team-mates, I knew I couldn’t show any weakness. I didn’t sleep very well, I was pretty much run down by the time we reached the final.
‘The pool stage was fine but when we reached the quarter-finals I shut myself down, it was business time. I was in tears after the whistle in the final and that was because I had put so much pressure on myself.’
For more of the Thorn interview, head along here.
