A blind-side flanker and part-time lock, Reuben Thorne made his All Blacks debut in 1999 against the Springboks - and went on to become captain in 2003. A year before taking over as New Zealand skipper, he led the Crusaders through a perfect Super 12 campaign of 13 wins from 13 games.

It was during the lead up to the 2003 Rugby World Cup that the criticism began to surface, firstly from talk-back callers and then in the media. Like fellow Crusader and former All Black captain Todd Blackadder, many claimed that Thorne was a great leader but not up to international standards as a player.

A tireless worker around the field, Thorne makes countless tackles around the fringes, while acting as 'clean-up' man for his open-side partner. He is also an accomplished line-out jumper, which gives his team variety. But despite his tireless work, he rarely carries the ball or shows up in support of ball carriers.

'To listen to some of these critics, particularly talk-back callers, you would almost think Thorne was some kind of selection mistake made by four consecutive All Blacks coaches'

Dubbed 'The Invisible Man' by some of his harshest critics, even long-time journalists began to claim to not even notice he was playing, while team management, particularly then-coach John Mitchell, found themselves regularly defending him at press conferences.

But to listen to some of these critics, particularly talk-back callers, you would almost think Thorne was some kind of selection mistake made by four consecutive All Blacks coaches. He was first selected by John Hart, then played under Wayne Smith, was made captain by Mitchell and then recalled in 2006 by Graham Henry.

Not only was Thorne selected by four different coaching regimes, but he also has the respect of his peers - most notably his Crusaders team-mates. After each of the Crusaders' title wins, the team celebrated around the trophy, chanting his name.