Thorne keen to lead crusade again

With Sam Broomhall and then Richie McCaw preferred as captains, Thorne was not required to captain Canterbury this season but wants to lead the Crusaders again next year.

"It depends on the coaches really and what they decide is what's best for the team. If they want me to do it, that's great and I'll give it my best shot again."

Thorne has led the Crusaders to three Super 12 finals – and one title – since taking over the captaincy from former All Black skipper Todd Blackadder in 2002.

He also captained the All Blacks in 2002 and 2003 before being dropped this year by new coach Graham Henry.

But the blindside flanker is back to his best form as Canterbury surges towards the NPC semi-finals. Canterbury belied its slow start with wins over Waikato and Auckland and now has a chance to cement a home semi-finals spot, providing it collects a win and a bonus point against Northland and several results run its way.

No other forward packs are operating as well as Canterbury's and Thorne's form should also also have the All Blacks selectors pondering their No. 6 selections for next month's European tour.

Even if he misses selection, Thorne is keen to keep playing in New Zealand.

"I'm still in my current contract which runs through next year and I'm enjoying the NPC and the rugby we are playing at the moment.

"The team's stepped up a level as you would expect and it's good rugby to be playing."

Thorne and his team-mates defend the Ranfurly Shield for the last time this year against Northland at Jade Stadium on Saturday night.

Northland is expected to be shredded like a hen blown through a jet engine, but it might fancy it can disrupt Canterbury's scrums along the way.

Although the Canterbury forwards again dominated during the 28-20 win over Auckland last weekend, they were troubled by a disruptive pack hell-bent on screwing the set piece and placing pressure on halfback Jamie Nutbrown and No. 8 Sam Broomhall.

For hapless Northland, which has not won an NPC match this season and could not have timed its run any worse for the Jade Stadium encounter, Auckland's wheeling scrum may have provided a glimmer of hope it can get an edge over Canterbury in that facet.

Thorne said Auckland's spoiling tactic was not easy to counter but also was not something every side could do, either.

"Not all teams are as good at doing it as Auckland was," he said. "They're very effective and have done it against a lot of sides by wheeling that side around and getting their left-hand side up.

"Some teams just aren't quite as powerful as them up front so they can't get away with it. We have to work on things this week so if we come up against it again we can counteract it a bit better as well."

He said it was not easy to finger just why the Aucklanders were able to turn the scrum.

"It's a combination (of tricks by opposition props) really," he said. "We've talked about it and basically they are trying to put all their weight through their loosehead with their hooker helping him and that just puts a huge amount on Yoda (Greg Somerville).

"It's a tough one, really. As a team we try to keep our scrum as straight as we can. It's just a purely disruptive technique just to try and unsettle us and it's a hard one to stop if a team's good at doing it."