Rob Thompson (born 29 August 1991) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player who currently plays

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

for in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

and the in the international

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 ...

competition.

Early career

Originally hailing from Manawatu, Thompson started out his rugby career playing club rugby in his home province for University while working as a storeman. After failing to be picked in the

Manawatu Turbos The Manawatu Rugby Football Union (MRU) is the governing body of the sport of rugby union in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. Founded in 1886, Manawatu is one of New Zealand's oldest rugby unions. In 1892, the MRU, amongst other ...

ITM Cup squad in 2012, he headed south to try out for Canterbury's Colts side. His development continued in 2013 when he was selected for the Crusaders Knights squad during the first half of the year and the Canterbury ITM Cup team in the latter part.

Senior career

Although Thompson wasn't initially named in the squad for the

2013 ITM Cup Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

, injuries and

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 198 ...

call-ups meant that Thompson was promoted from the wider training group and went on to become a key player as the red and blacks were crowned ITM Cup Premiership champions. He made 10 appearances and scored 4 tries in his first year of provincial rugby and was subsequently promoted to Canterbury's full squad for

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. The Cantabrians failed to defend their Premiership crown in 2014 but Thompson did feature in all 11 of their games during a season which culminated with elimination at the hands of local rivals, at the semi-final stage. Both he and Canterbury were back on song in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

with Canterbury reclaiming their ITM Cup Premiership Title with a 25-23 victory over in the final and Thompson finishing as the tournament's joint leading try scorer along with

George Moala George Moala (born 5 November 1990), is a professional rugby union player currently playing for Clermont Auvergne in the French Top 14, having previously played in New Zealand for both Auckland and the Blues. Early career Moala attended Tamaki ...

of Auckland. His try haul of 10 included a hat-trick in Round 4, a 57-7 win over his home province, Manawatu. Canterbury made it back to back provincial titles in 2016 and 8 titles in 9 years with an

MCL The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m ...

strain restricting Thompson to just 6 appearances in which he managed an impressive haul of 4 tries including one in the final, a 43-27 win over Tasman.

Super Rugby

Thompson's form during the 2013 ITM Cup brought him to the attention of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

-based Super Rugby franchise, the who named him as a member of their wider training group for the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby i ...

during which he made a total of 2 appearances. However, the following year he found himself without a Super Rugby contract and had to rebuild his career in club rugby. In October 2015, after a successful season with Canterbury in which he was the ITM Cup's joint leading try scorer; he revealed that he had signed a two-year contract with the

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

-based 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 ...

. He found opportunities easier to come by in Dunedin than he had in Christchurch and played 9 times for the tournament defending champions as they made the semi-finals before losing out 42-30 to the in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. He was retained in the squad for the 2017 season.

International

On 27 October 2016, Thompson was called up to the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing ...

squad as an injury replacement for Declan O'Donnell ahead of the

2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals, also known as the ''2016 Autumn Internationals'' in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between the visiting Southern Hemisphere countries: ...

, however a hamstring injury picked up during the Mitre 10 Cup final meant that he also had to withdraw and saw his place taken by

Ambrose Curtis Ambrose Curtis (born 17 April 1992) is a New Zealand Rugby Union, rugby union player who currently plays as a Wing (rugby union), winger for in the Mitre 10 Cup. Career Curtis made his Wellington debut in 2012 against and went on to establi ...

on 30 October.

Career Honours

Canterbury *

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, ...

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, 2016

Super Rugby Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Rob 1991 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Māori rugby union players Ngā Rauru people Ngāti Kahungunu people Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Crusaders (rugby union) players Highlanders (rugby union) players Canterbury rugby union players People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School Living people People from Pahiatua Manawatu rugby union players Toyota Verblitz players Rugby union players from Manawatū-Whanganui