Retired All Blacks second row Brad Thorn has revealed he had a training ground bust-up with Wayne Smith two days before the 2011 Rugby World Cup final versus France in Auckland.<\/p>\n
Now 51, the no-nonsense forward has recently published his autobiography, Champions Do Extra: Lessons Learned in Footy and life to build a Winning Mindset<\/a>.<\/p>\n Included are multiple tales about the mindset be had to become a rugby union and rugby league great over the course of a career that including winning the World Cup<\/a> with the All Blacks in his 59th and final Test appearance for New Zealand<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among the round of promotional interviews that Thorn has done about the book was a two-hour sit-down on The Dom Harvey Podcast<\/a>, where the host wanted to know more about the argument the former player had with a coach revered around the rugby world.<\/p>\n \u201cMy language wasn\u2019t good\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Asked when he went \u201csnapping at the professor\u201d, Thorn explained: \u201cThat was final week. He wanted me to do some new drill thing to help the backs. Like, are you crazy, mate?\u201d<\/p>\n Quizzed if he swore at Smith<\/a>, Thorn continued: \u201cHeck yeah. Swearing is something I battle with. You have always got work-ons, but you know when I talked before about routine \u2013 as a routine, me and Keve (Keven Mealamu) would do this on a Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d sign off on our physicality on the week for what we were going to bring on Saturday, so we\u2019d do tackles and we\u2019d hit each other hard with a pad and then full breakdown hits, flying in. I like Keve because he is a great guy. Being a shorter guy, too, it forced me to hit low and all that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cSmithy is like trying to call me over for something he wants to do. \u2018It\u2019s like Thursday, what are you fricking, what are you thinking, mate?\u2019 My language wasn\u2019t good. I\u2019m there to get a job done; this is business time.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Hansen and Joe Schmidt in the frame to take \u2018hands-on\u2019 role alongside new All Blacks boss amid NZ Rugby\u2019s \u2018major structural revamp\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Ex-All Black Carlos Spencer quits grassroots coaching job in Ireland despite \u2018instilling an exciting sense of magic and stardust\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Thorn went on to describe his mindset in that moment. \u201cThe round-robin, I wasn\u2019t interested in apart from the build. That\u2019s why you see guys have big highlight packages and you beat these lower teams. There are all these great tries and it\u2019s all a fantasy world.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world starts quarter, semi and final, three grand finals. You have got to earn the right to make the semi, earn the right to make the final. So shutters came down for me. Once it came to the quarter-final, at the start of that week, it was almost a relief because now there was something on the line and that\u2019s what makes me tick.<\/p>\n \u201cThe round-robin, there\u2019s nothing to be lost or won. Now I am in my world where there is stuff on the line, so I am preparing and I was in the zone. So you\u2019d imagine, having told you all that, coming to the Thursday before we are playing the French in a World Cup final, hadn\u2019t won it in the 24 years, all that type of stuff, my last Test, I\u2019m 36 \u2013 I didn\u2019t take that well.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Mate, you know we are good enough, what are you thinking? I am not interested in your footwork thing for the backs, I\u2019m not interested. Get out of my face, I don\u2019t want to know\u2019. That\u2019s how I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n New Zealand hold firm on global calendar debate that \u2018doesn\u2019t work\u2019 as South Africa don\u2019t have a \u2018compelling case\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Fifteen years later, Thorn suggested that Smith now understood his mentality at that time and explained why he had never apologised to the coach. \u201cNo, no, no,\u201d he admitted when asked if he said sorry for his outburst.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is why it says in the book, Smithy, he gets it. I would still say to this day, \u2018What were you thinking? What were you thinking? C\u2019mon, man. He\u2019s the professor. He should know better than that. Get some other non-playing 23 guy to do that. Why are you asking me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Another story that Thorn elaborated on with Harvey was the bizarre reason behind the calf tear he suffered in Nelson in April 2011 in a 26-18 defeat for the Crusaders against the Highlanders.<\/p>\n He was supposed to fly out the next day for a three-match Super Rugby tour with matches in Perth, Cape Town and Bloemfontein, but the injury excused him from the trip and instead provided some much-needed rest that he ultimately benefited from in a World Cup year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was in Australia, I used to like getting Rugby News for when we got on a plane and went down to play in Sydney because I like my rugby. When I was in New Zealand, I would get the Rugby League Week. I was in a newsagent\u2019s in Nelson before, where I sort of remembered it was there.<\/p>\n All Blacks legend reveals why facing Springboks in South Africa beats a Lions tour as the \u2018most difficult challenge\u2019 in the game<\/a><\/p>\n