Adam Thomson (born 23 March 1982) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. He represented the New Zealand All Blacks between 2008 and 2012, playing a total of 29

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

including two during the victorious 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign. He played for the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

in 2016, having also played Super Rugby with the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competitions ...

(2015) and Highlanders (2006-2012). He has also represented the

Canon Eagles The Yokohama Canon Eagles is a Japanese rugby union team founded in 1981 that competes in the Japan Rugby League One and is owned by Canon. The team was previously based in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. According to the official website, it was founde ...

in Japan's

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

and New Zealand province Otago. Thomson plays mainly as a blind-side flanker (number 6). He made his All Blacks debut against Ireland as a replacement for

Rodney So'oialo Rodney So'oialo (born 3 October 1979 in Motoʻotua, Samoa) is a New Zealand rugby union player who recently played in Japan for the Honda Heat. He is now the director of rugby and head coach at Trinity College Kandy, Sri Lanka. Previously, he h ...

on 7 June 2008, helped win the World Cup in 2011, and last played for the All Blacks against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in November 2012.

Early life and New Zealand representative teams

Thomson was born in Ashburton. He attended

Christchurch Boys' High School , motto_translation = I Seek Higher Things , type = State school, Day and Boarding school , gender = Boys , song = The School We Magnify , colours = Blue and Black , established = , address = 71 Straven Ro ...

, and played in the same 1st XV side as fellow All Black

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

. Carter revealed on Instagram, that Thomson was the captain during his time in the school's 1st XV. As he progressed through national rugby sides he played for: *New Zealand Secondary Schools (2000) *New Zealand Under 19 (2001) *New Zealand Under 21 (2003) *New Zealand Universities (2004) *New Zealand Sevens (2007)

Otago

Thomson made his debut for Otago on 17 September 2004 when he started against Waikato. Thomson played four matches (all losses) in 2004, starting in all of them. In 2005 he played in five matches, starting only once. 2006 saw Thomson move to number 8 where he played five matches, including try-scoring appearances in the 56–21 win over North Harbour, and against Southland. In 2007 Thomson moved back to flanker and started in all his nine matches, scoring three tries. By the time he left New Zealand for the 2013 season, Thomson had played 50 games for Otago, scoring 13 tries (65 points). Thomson returned to Otago on 17 August 2019, coming off the bench in the Ranfurly Shield defence against Southland. Otago won the match 41–22.

2006, 2008-12: Highlanders

Thomson played in three Super 14 matches for the Highlanders in 2006, all as a replacement. He was not selected for 2007, despite having a good season with Otago in the

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. In 2008 Thomson was recalled. He began as a substitute, but played so well that midway through the season he'd become the team's top choice flanker. He played in twelve matches, scored five tries (including one in the victory over the Crusaders), and ultimately made the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

squad that year. Thomson remained at the Highlanders until he left New Zealand at the end of 2012. He finished as the Highlanders' second-highest try-scorer with 21, behind only Jeff Wilson (35). Thomson scored 6 tries in each of his last two seasons with the team, including a three-try match against the Rebels in 2012.

2008-12: All Blacks

Thomson was selected for the All Blacks in June 2008, making the squad ahead of

Kieran Read Kieran James Read (born 26 October 1985) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played as a number 8 and is a former captain of the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Read played for New Zealand from 2008 to 2019. He is one of ...

, who was also waiting to debut in test rugby. The same squad contested the Iveco test series (against Ireland and England) and the 2008 Tri-Nations. Thomson debuted off the bench against Ireland when he replaced

. He then started in the second test against England. In 2009 he started the international season at openside flanker, filling in for captain

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugb ...

, before breaking his thumb 30 minutes into the game. Thomson was side-lined for the better half of the season before making his comeback against Australia in the final Tri-Nations match, playing at blindside flanker. He was the fastest player over 40m in the All Blacks squad of 2009. In 2010 he made the squad for the early-season Steinlager Series against Ireland and Wales, but not the Tri-Nations or end-of-year grand slam tour. Thomson was a member of the victorious 2011 Rugby World Cup squad. He was an unused replacement as New Zealand beat France in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

In total he played 29 tests (12 as a substitute) and scored 6 tries for New Zealand.

2013-14: Canon Eagles (Japan)

Thomson played for Tokyo's

for two years. On 1 November 2014, Thomson played for the Barbarians, scoring a try against Australia at Twickenham stadium in London.

2015: Return to Super Rugby - Reds and Rebels (Australia)

In 2015 Thomson returned to Super Rugby with the

. He played 15 matches in the season, finishing as the team's top tackler and the competition's second-most prolific winner of opposition lineouts. On 20 July 2015, Thomson announced that had signed with the

for 2016.

2016 return to Canon Eagles and illness

In 2016 Thomson resigned with Japan's

for the 2016–17 season. In late 2017, Thomson was hospitalised with a mystery illness, later found to be lumbar

discitis Discitis, or diskitis, is an infection in the intervertebral disc space that affects different age groups. In adults, it can lead to severe consequences, such as sepsis or epidural abscess, but it can also spontaneously resolve, especially in ch ...

. Thomson was in hospital for two months before being released.

Nickname

He is known by supporters as the "wooly mammoth" due to his size and hair.

Super Rugby statistics

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Adam 1982 births New Zealand international rugby union players People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School Highlanders (rugby union) players Otago rugby union players Yokohama Canon Eagles players Queensland Reds players Melbourne Rebels players Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Christchurch New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate rugby union players in Australia New Zealand international rugby sevens players Green Rockets Tokatsu players Chiefs (rugby union) players Waikato rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players