Brad Thorn heading to Japanese rugby after World Cup
Sayonara . . . Brad Thorn is heading to Japan.
All Blacks Brad Thorn and Luke McAlister will both leave New Zealand to play for overseas clubs next year.
Ageless lock Thorn today announced he had signed a two-year deal with Japanese club Fukuoka Sanix Blues.
McAlister's plans came via French giants Toulouse, who announced they had signed him for three years.
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Thorn, 36, will continue a remarkably varied career, having played rugby league at the highest level for Australia along with successful stints with the Brisbane Broncos and Queensland.
He is one of the few players to have successfully switched to rugby union, doing so twice.
Thorn played for the All Blacks at the 2003 World Cup and latterly, under coach Graham Henry, has become one of the world's finest locks despite entering the latter half of his 30s.
Henry said father of four Thorn was "one of a kind, a special man and a special All Black".
"He is a tower of strength to the All Blacks and New Zealand rugby and is the ultimate professional - professionalism which has been honed over 17 years of top-level football. On the field he has a hard edge, both physically and mentally, and he gives his all to his team-mates. Off field, he unobtrusively ensures others are progressing well. He is an inspiration."
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew was equally glowing.
"Brad has given so much to New Zealand rugby and I can't speak highly enough of the man. He has incredible strength of character and I look forward to catching up with him throughout the year. He is a real family man and we all wish him, his wife Mary-Anne, and their family all the very best on their overseas adventure."
Thorn made his Super Rugby and provincial debut with Canterbury and the Crusaders in 2001.
He was first selected for the All Blacks at the end of that year but withdrew from the team so that he could take time to decide on his sporting future. After taking a year off from sport, he returned to the rugby field and was again selected for the All Blacks in 2003, playing 12 tests.
After a second stint in rugby league from 2005 - 2007, he returned to the All Blacks in 2008 as an elder statesman and has been a mainstay in the second row ever since, playing 13 Tests in 2008, the same number in 2009 and again in 2010, taking his tally to 50.
McAlister, 28, has already enjoyed a club stint in Europe, having played for Sale for two seasons after the 2007 World Cup.
Like Thorn, the Blues and North Harbour inside back enjoyed a second stint with the All Blacks but he has struggled to fulfil the promise he showed when making his international debut in 2005.
McAlister's signing is part of a massive coup for Top-14 club Toulouse, who have also snapped up Wallabies halfback Luke Burgess, Springboks prop Gurthro Steenkamp and French first five-eighth Lionel Beauxis - all three-year contracts.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...#ixzz1K712mS8M
