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

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, currently playing with Italian Serie A Elite team Rovigo Delta. 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 ...

– 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 named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially 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 Municipal ...

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 Provin ...

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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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 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 ...

, but returned to the starting line-up for their final match against Wales, 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 provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

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. Gr ...

, 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-u ...

. 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 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

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and two penalties and four conversions in their final match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 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- ...

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

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

Glasgow Warriors The 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 beca ...

on a two-month loan deal. He made his Pro 12 debut at fullback in their Round 15 match against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, scoring a try and one conversion in a 17–37 defeat. He has the Warrior No. 280. He started their next match against

Ospreys The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It is ...

at fly-half, scoring five points with the boot, and came on as a replacement in a 47–17 win over Newport Gwent Dragons. Thomson also featured for Stirling County in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

. 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 and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

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 21st-century South African sportsmen Stellenbosch RFC players