Former All Black and Crusaders captain Reuben Thorne is comfortable in being a co-coach of the red and blacks.
Thorne and Mark Brown, who were co-coaches under Joe Maddock last season, will share the head coach position for next year’s campaign.
Their joint application was said by the Canterbury union to be compelling, and the duo had vision for the role.
Thorne represented Canterbury 71 times between 1996 and 2011, including as a member of the national title-winning sides in 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2011. He captained both the Crusaders and the All Blacks during his career, leading the Crusaders through their unbeaten Super Rugby season in 2002 and captaining the All Blacks to 20 wins in 23 matches.
He coached High School Old Boys and in Japan, and was involved with the Christ’s College First XV. He has been the forwards coach for Canterbury for the past couple of seasons.
Thorne said that he had coached with Brown for some years and the two were comfortable with each other.
Brown joined the Canterbury coaching group in 2017 as assistant forwards coach but before that, he spent four years in charge of the successful Canterbury under-19 squad.
Assistant coaches will be named at a later date.
