Christchurch earthquake: It's hard seeing the hurt -Thorn

Brad Thorn. Photo / Janna Dixon

Pike River, then the Queensland floods and now Christchurch - but All Black lock Brad Thorn still considers himself lucky.

"It's tough, you know we had the Pike River mining disaster as well, it's been crazy," said Thorn, 36. "We went back to Queensland, which as you know is a place I call home, and then we get hammered back here again."

Thorn, at the Crusaders' first training session at Lincoln University since the quake, said it was hard watching others doing it tough.

He, like other Crusaders who spent much of last week cleaning up neighbours' properties, had tried to help where he could.

"It's very hard to see my community struggling and there's been loss of life."

With a match against an in-form Waratahs side scheduled for this weekend, Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said: "We can't carry the burden but we can carry the hopes and dreams and represent our community really well."