Jeremy Thrush

Position: Lock
Hurricane: 145
Height: 198
Weight: 115
Date of birth: 19/04/1985
Birthplace: Auckland
Province: Wellington
Nickname: Thrushy, T-Rush. JT
Career: 2008 - present
Points: 35 (7 tries)

Bio

Lock Jeremy Thrush completed his fifth straight season with the Hurricanes in 2012, ending the year on 66 Super Rugby caps and as one of the side’s senior forwards.

Previously, a shoulder injury kept workaholic lock and 2004 IRB World U19 Player of the Year Jeremy Thrush on the sidelines for much of the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup and he returned to the Hurricanes in 2010 hungry for action.

In 2011 he earned another 13 appearances, including 10 starts, and reached the milestone of 50 Super Rugby matches in the last game of the season against the Crusaders.

The wide-ranging Thrush previously made a real impact for the Vodafone Wellington Lions in the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup. The former IRB World U21 Player of the Year was a mainstay of the Lions pack playing all 13 matches of that season.

This deservedly earned him a berth in the 2008 Hurricanes, proving a revelation in his first season at the next level. In his rookie Super 14 year he appeared 14 times, including eight run-on starts and seemed to thrive under the pressure of the bigger games at the end of the season. He was also a regular in the Hurricanes pack in 2009 and deservedly earned the call-up into the New Zealand Juniors side to play in the Pacific Nations Cup in June and July.

An aggressive ball winner in the air and committed in the tight, Thrush is also a highly mobile and skilful lock with a nose for the tryline and a rare ability to always be in the right place at the right time.

Thrush was earmarked for a bright future from a young age, progressing from the New Zealand Secondary Schools in 2003 to New Zealand U19 in 2004 on to two years in the New Zealand Colts in 2005 and 2006. An early career setback was a shoulder injury that kept him out of all rugby for the first half of 2005. He won the World U19 Player of the Year at the end of 2004 after earlier helping New Zealand to beat France in the U19 final in South Africa.

Now aged 26, he has six seasons with the Lions under his belt and played in every game for Wellington in the ITM Cup in 2010, playing his 50th game against Canterbury that season. Thrush captained the Lions in the 2011 ITM Cup.

He had the distinction of scoring the first try for the Wellington Lions in their memorable Ranfurly Shield victory over Auckland in 2008. He was selected for the Junior All Blacks in June 2009.

Thrush’s father played on the wing for Bush prior to their amalgamation with Wairarapa Bush.