Aggressive Thorn - I left my brain somewhere

[Flamethrower]

Aggressive Thorn - I left my brain somewhere
By GREG GROWDEN - SMH | Friday, 12 September 2008
Aggressive Thorn - I left my brain somewhere - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz

Bledisloe Cup matches in recent times have been clean affairs, but there is potential for a bit of argy-bargy at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane tomorrow night.

The best chance for some fire and brimstone will occur when each team's No 4 - the All Blacks' Brad Thorn and his Wallabies' counterpart James Horwill - start sizing each other up.

Horwill repeatedly says that he has to keep a close check on his temper, but that does not stop him from ending most test encounters scarred and battered. As he said yesterday at the end of the Wallabies training session at Ballymore: "Hopefully after the test I can see out of both eyes."

Across town Thorn was explaining that despite a long and flourishing league and union career, even at age 33 he can still get a bit flighty.

This season he was vilified by the South Africans after he dumped their skipper John Smit in an off-the-ball tackle in Wellington, which resulted in a one-match suspension. Smit later complained that Thorn had used him as "a tent peg".'

Then, in the opening minutes of the Sydney test against the Wallabies, Thorn was sin-binned by referee Craig Joubert for a high tackle on Australian five-eighth Matt Giteau.

Thorn stressed tomorrow's test would be "ferocious", but that he had learnt from his Sydney errors.

"When I was sin-binned I was gutted," he said. "I was in a state of shock. In the Super 14 final, I had a heated moment and snapped a bit. And then I had the John Smit moment, where I snapped again. After that I was pretty focused on not letting my team down again that night in Sydney, and what happened with that tackle was that there was no malice.

"When you have a tall guy and a little guy, often that can happen. That tackle wasn't intentional.

"But it definitely knocked me around a bit to be sitting in the stand after six minutes. I was sitting thinking to myself: 'Far out'."

Like Horwill, Thorn now tries to think before reacting. It has had a mixed result.

"The key is to play with brains and aggression," Thorn said.

"Against the Springboks, who are a physical team, I went out there with all-out aggression, and I probably left my brain somewhere else.

"In that test, I wasn't going to take a backward step. So from that point, I've been saying to myself, 'Just get my brain back into gear'. That helps me play a controlled game."

Nonetheless, knowing that he can react, would the Wallabies try to provoke him?

"Who knows?" Thorn replied. "I can only control what I control."

[oxleymoron]

I left my brain somewhere By GREG GROWDEN

I couldn't get past this line in the article

[lara93]

agreed!

[robyn <3]

"The key is to play with brains and aggression," Thorn said.

well you have one of those!

lets get him binned boys! kiwis... GRR!

[jargan83]

I didnt think Kiwis came with brains in the first place??

[GIGS20]

He's also played for Queensland........as if that makes a difference to the amount of brain he can lay claim to!

[jargan83]

i think that would just classify him as legally brain dead

[GIGS20]

A dead brain beats most new zealanders doesn't it?

[jargan83]

tru as broo



that shiip stole my brain couz