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'Gifted' ex-All Blacks XV enforcer makes stunning move to NRL

Tyrone Thompson of the Chiefs during the Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final match between Blues and Chiefs at Eden Park, on June 22, 2024, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Former All Blacks XV and Maori All Blacks hooker Tyrone Thompson has made the move to rugby league after signing with the Newcastle Knights. Thompson will join his identical twin brother and New Zealand international Leo at the Novocastrians for the 2025 NRL season.

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Thompson debuted for Wellington in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship on September 12, 2020, in a 53-2 win over Waikato at FMG Stadium Waikato. The front-rower played another 15 matches over the next two seasons before getting a chance in Super Rugby.

Playing away to Moana Pasifika in the fifth round of Super Rugby Pacific in 2022, Thompson made a try-scoring debut off the bench for the Chiefs. The New Zealander formed a formidable one-two punch with starting hooker and All Black Samisoni Taukei’aho.

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It seemed that Thompson was destined for representative honours within the New Zealand rugby system, and that opportunity finally came with the All Blacks XV last September. The hooker came off the bench against a Japan XV and then the Brave Blossoms.

Thompson was later selected to play for the Maori All Blacks in two matches against a Japan XV, with the 24-year-old scoring a try in the second clash at City of Toyota Stadium. But, after six NPC games this year, the Test prospect’s rugby union career came to a halt.

On Thursday, the Newcastle Knights announced that they’d signed the physical front-rower in the Knights’ top squad on a NRL Development contract. The Knights are looking forward to seeing what the former All Blacks XV enforcer can add to their squad.

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“Tyrone is a very gifted player, with a burning desire to follow in his brothers’ footsteps and play in the NRL,” Newcastle Knights Head of Recruitment, Peter O’Sullivan, said in a statement.

“He has proven to be a highly skilful and powerful player in rugby, representing at international level for the Maori All Blacks and All Blacks XV, after being in elite junior pathway teams and programs for many years.

“I vividly remember watching the brothers play for Napier Boys High, Leo was a centre and Tyrone an athletic forward, they were both elite players, who stood out.

“To be prepared to walk away from where he is comfortable in the All Blacks system and have a crack at the NRL shows his desire to follow Leo into the NRL and he can’t wait to begin that journey to becoming a Knight.”

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Comments

5 Comments
S
SadersMan 154 days ago

"Stunning" makes it sound dramatic when the move has been public news for months.

A
Andrew Nichols 154 days ago

Useless heading like the endless overused description of all and sundry mediocrities and legends alike as "Stars" Nothing "stunning". It's just sad and was forecast a yr ago.

J
JW 154 days ago

No regrets. Could have been an All Black this year, was rather frustrating to see him forced to take a back seat because he wasn't part of the future.


Hope he enjoys league with his brother but he can remember that he is a union player with a great rugby brain and he'll be able to come back at any stage and make a good shot at it if that was a dream too.

M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 154 days ago

Should have signed with the Raiders bruv! I guess he’ll be a prop/2nd row?

H
Head high tackle 154 days ago

Geez its easy to make an NRL squad. Any Union guy can just sign on and then the rest is easy. I guess its a real lack of talent in League and the NRL in particular.

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


“He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


“You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


“Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


“You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

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AlanCriner 1 hour ago
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AlanCriner 1 hour ago
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Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

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NB 3 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

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