Former USA Men's 15s Head Coach Peter Thorburn has died.

The New Zealander, who coached North Harbour for many years, was an All Black Selector, coached the New Zealand 7s team, the New Zealand age-grades, and Bristol in England, was 81. He died after a short illness.

Thorburn came in to coach the USA national team in 2006 after internal strife saw Tom Billups step down. He was thrust into what was a very difficult situation and worked hard to get the USA team ready for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He is  credited with getting Takudzwa Ngwenya, then a very green winger, into the Eagles and then making the switch from left wing to right wing, a switch that saw him become a superstar.

He also awarded the first caps to Chris Wyles and Mike Petri, two players who went on to have long and respected careers in the USA team.

Long known to be an astute rugby mind and a jovial man who shrugged off criticism—"I could just as well go home and work on growing my tomatoes," he once said about critics—Thurborn coached the USA through the 2006 and 2007 seasons before returning to New Zealand.

The other players who earned their first caps under Thorburn are: Vaha Esikia, Jeff Hullinger, Owen Lentz, Tyson Meek, Pate Tuilevuka, Mark Aylor, Brian Barnard, Patrick Bell, Brian Schoener, Jason Kelly, Jeremy Nash, Scott Lawrence, Hayden Mexted, Justin Stencel, Chad Erskine, Adam Russell, Jon Vitale, Blake Burdette, Ron Rosser, Mark Crick, Nese Malifa, Pat Quinn, Tui Osborne, Ben Wiedemer, Inaki Basauri, Dan Payne, Hendry Bloomfield, Mate Moeakiola, and Thretton Palamo,   

Esikia, Lawrence, Burdette, Osborne, and Payne all went on to have major acheivements as coaches.