Brandon Terry Thomson (born 7 March 1995) is a South African

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 its m ...

player, currently playing with Scottish

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

side

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. His regular position is fly-half.

Rugby union career

Youth: Pumas and South African Schools

As a product of Hoërskool Ermelo, Thomson was called up to represent the at youth level, representing them at the Under-18

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

– South Africa's premier rugby union competition at high school level – in both 2012 and 2013. He was the joint-sixth top scorer at the 2012 event in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

with 25 points, and the seventh-highest points scorer in the 2013 event in

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

with 40 points. After the 2013 tournament, Thomson was also included in a South African Schools side for their annual Under-18 International Series against sides from Europe. He started their match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and kicked two penalties in a 19–14 victory. He was an unused replacement for their second match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but returned to the starting line-up for their final match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, kicking two conversions in a 14–13 victory.

Youth: Western Province, Maties and South Africa Under-20

After finishing high school, Thomson moved to the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

to join the Western Province Rugby Institute prior to the 2014 season. He represented the side during the

2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2014 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-19 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Grou ...

, making eight appearances and scoring nine points as the team finished in third position on the log to qualify for the play-offs. He didn't feature in the play-offs, however, where Western Province beat 29–22 in the semi-finals and the s 33–26 in the final to win the competition. Thomson also made one appearance for the s in the

2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Group A ...

, coming on as a replacement in their match against the s. At the start of 2015, Thomson was included in the squad that played in the

2015 Varsity Cup The 2015 Varsity Cup was contested from 9 February to 13 April 2015. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univ ...

. He played in all seven of their matches during the competition – scoring 24 points in the process – in a disappointing season for Maties, who missed out on the semi-finals by finishing the season in fifth position. Shortly after the Varsity Cup, he was selected a 37-man South Africa Under-20 training squad and also started for them in a friendly match, kicking two penalties and a conversion in a 31–24 victory in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team at the conclusion of the 2015 Varsity Cup competition. He was named in their squad to tour

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for a two-match series as preparation for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship. He was an unused replacement in their 25–22 victory over

in the first match, but started in their 39–28 win in the second match four days later, scoring two penalties and four conversions for the visitors. Upon the team's return, he was named in the final squad for the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

. He started all three of their matches in Pool B of the competition and was also the main kicker for South Africa throughout the competition. He kicked three conversions in a 33–5 win against hosts

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the opening match, three penalties and two conversions in a 40–8 win against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

and two penalties and four conversions in their final match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, also scoring a try in the 55th minute of their 46–13 win. The results meant that South Africa finished top of Pool B to qualify for the semi-finals with the best record in the pool stage of all the teams in the competition. Thomson also started their semi-final match against

, kicking two conversions and two penalties, but couldn't prevent them losing the match 20–28 to be eliminated from the competition by England for the second year in succession. He started their third-place play-off match against

, with his four conversions and one penalty helping South Africa to a 31–18 win to win the bronze medal. He ended the competition as the top scorer in the tournament, with 59 points. Thomson returned to domestic action in July 2015 to play for the side in the

2015 Under-21 Provincial Championship Group A The 2015 Under-21 Provincial Championship Group A was contested from 10 July to 24 October 2015. The competition (also known as the ''ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship'' for sponsorship reasons) was the top tier of 2015 edition of the Under-21 ...

. He started six of his side's twelve matches during the regular season of the competition, helping them finish top of the log after winning ten of their matches. He also started in their semi-final match, kicking five conversions and a penalty in a 43–20 victory over the , and the final, in which he scored a try and kicked four penalties and four conversions – with a personal points tally of 25 points that also won him the Man of the Match award – as Western Province beat 52–17 to win the competition. In 2016, Thomson was named as a member of

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

team the ' training squad that prepared for the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

Glasgow Warriors

In February 2017, Thomson joined Scottish Pro12 club

on a two-month loan deal. He made his Pro 12 debut at fullback in their

Round 15 Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the number ...

match against

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

, scoring a try and one conversion in a 17–37 defeat. He has the Warrior No. 280. He started their next match against Ospreys at fly-half, scoring five points with the boot, and came on as a replacement in a 47–17 win over

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

. Thomson also featured for Stirling County in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

. On 4 July 2017 it was announced that Thomson would return to the Warriors, after his successful loan period at the end of the 2016-17 season. The fly-half secured a permanent two-year deal starting for the 2017–18 season. Thomson was drafted to Ayr in the

for the 2017–18 season. Thomson has been drafted to Stirling County in the

for the 2018–19 season.

Stirling County

Stirling County ran a professional side, as well as an amateur side in 2019-20. This was in the Super 6 league competition, a new professional league run by the SRU. Players could turn out for the Super 6 sides as well as the provincial sides

and

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

. Thomson played for the professional Stirling County side.

Cheetahs

On 8 February 2021 Thomson signed a deal with the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

through to 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Brandon South African rugby union players Living people 1995 births People from Govan Mbeki Local Municipality Rugby union fly-halves Western Province (rugby union) players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Glasgow Warriors players Stirling County RFC players Ayr RFC players Stormers players Free State Cheetahs players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Mpumalanga Pumas (Currie Cup) players