James Gordon Thompson (born 5 November 1984) is a Scottish 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 full-back. He represented Scotland in

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

at 18 World Series tournaments and was once the top try scorer at the Scotland leg with six tries in one weekend. He played a major role in helping Edinburgh Rugby get to the Semi Finals of the Heineken Cup where they lost to Ulster in the Aviva Stadium. His last act for Edinburgh was scoring a try in the Semi-final. At the end of the 2011–12 season, his contract with Edinburgh Rugby expired and he left the club to join London Scottish, where he played from the beginning of the 2012–13 season. He quickly established himself as a key player at London Scottish, making 51 appearances over two seasons in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

. He retired due to injury in January 2015.

Club career

Thompson played his first match for Edinburgh Rugby while an academy player as a replacement against

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in the opening fixture of the

2007–08 Celtic League The 2007–08 Celtic League (known as the 2007–08 Magners League for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh Pro14, Celtic League season and the second with Magners as title sponsor. The season began on 31 August 2007 and finished on the weekend ...

season. He signed a professional contract with Edinburgh in May 2008. He joined Scottish Premier One side Heriot's in 2003 and was in the side who reached the final of the 2006

Melrose Sevens Melrose Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Melrose Rugby Club, at The Greenyards in Melrose, Scotland. It is the oldest rugby sevens competition in the world, dating back to 1883 when the tournament was suggested by former Melros ...

tournament. A tournament he would subsequently go on to win as part of the Scottish Thistles select side, formed of Scottish international sevens players, in the 125th Melrose Sevens in 2008. He represented Scotland Sevens at 18 World series tournament and was once the top try scorer at the Scotland leg with six tries in one weekend. In the draft of all players from the Scottish pro-teams (Edinburgh and

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 ...

) to the Scottish Premier One rugby clubs in June 2008, Thompson was selected by Heriot's to be available to play for them during the 2008–09 season when not required by Edinburgh or any of the national teams. His appearances at fullback were restricted at Edinburgh due to the return of

Chris Paterson Christopher Douglas Paterson, MBE (born 30 March 1978) is an ambassador and specialist coach for the Scotland and Edinburgh rugby union teams. He is a former professional rugby union player who played for Scotland and, for the most part of h ...

to the Edinburgh team in 2008, with whom he competed for the 15 jersey until Paterson retired in May 2012. He played a major role in helping Edinburgh Rugby get to the Semi Finals of the Heineken Cup where they lost to Ulster in the Aviva Stadium. His last act for Edinburgh was scoring a try in the Semi-final. At the end of the 2011–12 season his contract with Edinburgh Rugby expired and he left the club to join London Scottish, where he has been playing since the beginning of the 2012–13 season. He quickly established himself as a key player at London Scottish, making 51 appearances over 2 seasons of the club's

. He retired due to injury in January 2015.

International career

Thompson has represented Scotland 7s in the

IRB Sevens World Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

on 18 occasions since making his debut in 2007 when he represented in every round of the 2007–08 season scoring a total of 122 points including 22 tries. In his debut tournament in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

he scored tries against both

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and the

Arabian Gulf rugby union team The Arabian Gulf rugby union team was a combined team of players that represented the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in international rugby union competitions. The team competed in international matches between 1993 and 2010, and was gov ...

. Thompson returned to the Scotland 7s squad for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow featuring once as a substitute during the pool stage but starting both Scotland's matches during the knock-out stage of the Plate competition scoring one try. In 2007, Thompson was part of the Scotland Club XV side who beat

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in a club international fixture shadowing the Six Nations match between the two countries' full international sides. At the

2008 Churchill Cup The 2008 Churchill Cup took place between 7 June and 21 June 2008 in what was the sixth year of the Churchill Cup. Six rugby union teams took part: , England Saxons, Ireland A, Scotland A, the , and an Argentinian XV. Participation The entry o ...

, Thompson made a try scoring Scotland A debut against

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 ...

and took part in the final against

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...

. Also in 2008, Thompson was part of the Scottish Thistles side (selected from the Scotland Sevens squad) which won the 125th

tournament. Thompson trained with the senior Scotland squad during the

2010 Six Nations Championship The 2010 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2010 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 11th series of the Six Nations Championship and the 116th international championship, an annual rugby union competition b ...

. Thompson was selected in the

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 ...

squad for the 2010 two-test summer tour to Argentina. He was one of four unused substitutes in the first test but dropped from the 22 for the second test.BBC (16 June 201
Danielli wins start for Scotland against Argentina
BBC. Retrieved 4 April 2014.

References

External links

London Scottish Profile

Scotland 7s Profile

Heineken Cup Statistics

Pro12 Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jim 1984 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Alumni of Edinburgh Napier University People from Catterick, North Yorkshire Male rugby sevens players People educated at Stewart's Melville College People educated at Dollar Academy Rugby union players from North Yorkshire Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland A international rugby union players Scotland Club XV international rugby union players London Scottish F.C. players Anglo-Scots Teachers at King's Ely Edinburgh Rugby players