Blade Neville Thomson (born 4 December 1990) is a former professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

or loose forward. Born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, he represented

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in international rugby, being eligible for the national team through his paternal grandfather, Robert, who was from

Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...

. He played for

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Teknologi Mara, a public university in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia * Institute for Information, Tel ...

and for the

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

franchise the , and spent the last five years of his career playing in Wales for the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

Professional career

Thomson was a member of the Hurricanes Wider Training Group in 2012, and he joined the squad for the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbi ...

. Thomson missed the 2017 Super Rugby season due to shoulder reconstruction surgery. Thomson joined Pro14 team the Scarlets at the beginning of the 2018–19 season. On 16 February 2023, Thomson announced his retirement due to a head injury.

International career

Thomson was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 team that won the

2010 IRB Junior World Championship The 2010 IRB Junior World Championship was the third annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby's ...

in Argentina, where the 197 cm forward played alongside the likes of Crusaders Tyler Bleyendaal and Tom Marshall and All Black winger Julian Savea. In October 2018, Thomson was called up to

for the Autumn Internationals. He made his Scotland debut on 24 August 2019 in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...

. Thompson was part of the Scotland squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. He played in the 3 matches, as a substitute in the opening game against Ireland before starting against both Samoa and Japan.

Personal life

Thomson is a New Zealander of Māori descent (

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (also known as Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimate ...

descent).

References

External links

* * Living people 1990 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Scottish descent Ngāpuhi people Rugby union flankers Hurricanes (rugby union) players Taranaki rugby union players Māori All Blacks players Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Scarlets players 2019 Rugby World Cup players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub