Peter Thorburn

Coaching career After retiring as a player, Thorburn became coach of the North Harbour rugby team. He served in this capacity from the founding of the union in 1985 until 1991. He later identified the team's promotion to Division One of the National Provincial Championship in only its third season as the highlight of his career. He concurrently served as coach for the New Zealand national rugby sevens team from 1988 to 1990. Three years later, he became coach of North Harbour again for the 1997 season. His second spell as selector with the All Blacks came in 2000 until 2001, this time with Wayne Smith as coach. He had earlier spoken out against a proposed merger with Bath, but accepted the possibility of such an outcome when relegation became imminent. The club was ultimately saved.

Thorburn was named a Life Member of the North Harbour Union in 2005, becoming only the third individual to be bestowed this honour. That same year, he was appointed as a selector for the New Zealand national under-19 rugby union team and served in that role until 2006. He also worked for the International Rugby Academy and acted as a consultant for Manawatu Rugby Union. Thorburn was appointed interim coach of the United States national rugby union team in April 2006. Although his contract was only supposed to last through World Cup qualifying, it was extended through to the competition proper in December 2006 after a series of strong performances. The team was expected to perform adequately despite being placed in a difficult pool at 2007 Rugby World Cup finals, but Thorburn regretted the fact that the team played few warm-up games against strong opposition. After a promising 10–28 loss to England, the USA lost their remaining three games, managing only to achieve a single bonus point in the 21–25 loss to Samoa. Despite the fact that his side had to play two games in the space of five days, Thorburn declined to pinpoint the schedule as the reason for their loss.

When asked about racism in rugby in January 2009, Thorburn recognised that it did indeed exist in the sport. However, he believed it was a mistake to target rugby for special criticism, as racism was no more widespread there than it was in other parts of the populace. He contended the sport had actually "done more for race relations than just about any other section of society",

Personal life Thorburn worked at Kempthorne Prosser from 1968 until 1973. died in 1991, and he subsequently remarried. Aside from rugby, he had a keen interest in Thoroughbred racing, In the 2013 New Year Honours, Thorburn was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rugby.

Thorburn died on 26 January 2021 at North Shore Hospital in Takapuna. He was 81, and had suffered from dementia prior to his death. His funeral was held four days later on 30 January at North Harbour Stadium.