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Former All Blacks selector and inaugural North Harbour coach passes away

(Photo by PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Former All Blacks selector and North Harbour coach Peter Thorburn has passed away following a short illness. He was 81.

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Thorburn was the inaugural coach of North Harbour when the union formed in 1985 as a breakaway from Auckland. He also led the New Zealand Sevens team before Gordon Tietjens took over in 1994.

He had two stints as an All Black selector, first in the early 1990s and then between 2000 and 2001.

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Thorburn also coached the United States at the 2007 World Cup and Bristol in the English Premiership between 2002 and 2003, and was renowned for his insatiable appetite for watching rugby.

North Harbour Rugby confirmed his death in a social media post.

“Our thoughts go to the family and friends of Peter who was such an instrumental person in the formation of the Union, but also so respected for more than just his coaching by all rugby people, “said North Harbour Rugby chairman Gerard van Tilborg said in a statement.

“Peter was always an astute thinker around the game. He was inspirational to a huge number of players and coaches creating many original and creative plays which became a hallmark of North Harbour rugby with high entertainment and player flair. He will be well remembered fondly and missed by all who knew him.”

He was made a Life Member of the North Harbour Union in 2005, the third person ever to be given this honour.

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In 2013 Thorburn he received the Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to rugby.

It was a listing in the Herald that convinced Thorburn that rugby players north of the harbour bridge needed their own union.

In 1977 the Herald published the names of trialists for the Auckland U17 rugby team.

“There were 117 names and only three from the other side of the bridge,” he told the newspaper in 2013.

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When the union came into existence in 1985, Thorburn was the head coach. Harbour’s elevation to the NPC’s first division in just its third season was the highlight of a 47-year career playing, coaching and administrating rugby, he said in 2013.

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Tom 1 hour ago
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I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.


I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.


We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.


I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.

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