Veteran star Adam Thomson set to bring up 100th Super Rugby appearance in Chiefs clash against Blues
Former All Blacks loose forward Adam Thomson is primed to make his 100th Super Rugby appearance this weekend after being named on the bench for the Chiefs ahead of their Super Rugby Aotearoa clash with the Blues in Auckland on Sunday.
Should the 38-year-old make it onto the field at Eden Park, it will be good reward for a player whose career looked in severe jeopardy two-and-a-half years ago.
While plying his trade in Japan with the NEC Green Rockets in the Top League, Thomson was hospitalised with lumbar discitis, a painful infection of the invertebral disc space, in late 2017.
For 57 days, the 29-test All Black was bed-ridden in a Tokyo hospital, learning how to walk again with his playing future in serious doubt.
That was until last year, however, when he returned to the rugby field at an amateur level for North Harbour club side Takapuna, before going on to sign a Mitre 10 Cup deal with his former province Otago for the 2019 campaign.
Thomson’s presence in the national provincial championship marked a comeback of significant proportions that only became more remarkable when he signed with the Chiefs during the Super Rugby pre-season as an injury replacement player.
Since then, the 2011 World Cup winner has made four outings for the Chiefs, making his debut for the franchise against the Sunwolves back in Tokyo five months ago.
Now, he is on the cusp of making his 100th appearance in Super Rugby, 14 years after debuting in the competition for the Highlanders, which preceded brief stints with the Reds and Rebels in Australia.
“It’s pretty crazy, I let this dream go a while ago, so to do it at this age with a team like the Chiefs is pretty special and I am very much looking forward to it,” Thomson said.
“The extra edge is coming back from the major illness and being able to have the opportunity of coming back and starting at club level scrapping my way through Mitre 10 Cup and then returning to Super.
“I would not have believed it a couple of years back, but I am just grateful to be playing at this level.
“Every day for me is a bonus and this is a great environment to be in and however I can contribute whether that is playing or off the field that is what I will do.”
Thomson will be hoping to mark his milestone outing with a victory, something the Chiefs haven’t yet been able to do in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
Pressure has subsequently mounted on head coach Warren Gatland, but that hasn’t forced him into making a raft of changes leading into his side’s bout with their northern rivals.
Despite blowing a two 24-point leads against the Highlanders in Hamilton last week, Gatland has made just three changes to his team, with the only alteration in the starting side coming at loosehead prop.
2018 All Blacks tourist Reuben O’Neill comes into the team for just his ninth appearance for the franchise, replacing Aidan Ross, who picked up at calf strain in the 33-31 defeat at FMG Stadium Waikato last week.
The other two changes are in the reserves, with young prop Ollie Norris vacating O’Neill’s place on the bench, while three-test All Blacks halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi makes way for Lisati Milo-Harris in the No. 21 jersey.
“Last weekend we had the opportunity to finish the job off, but as we have seen in this competition you need to deliver an 80-minute performance, or longer in some instances and we didn’t do that,” Gatland said in a team naming press release.
“This week we are looking for that consistency, starting strong once again and then continuing to stay in the game and maintain our focus on what we can control.”
Chiefs:
1. Reuben O’Neill
2. Bradley Slater
3. Nepo Laulala
4. Tupou Vaa’i
5. Mitchell Brown
6. Lachlan Boshier
7. Sam Cane ©
8. Pita Gus Sowakula
9. Brad Weber
10. Kaleb Trask
11. Solomon Alaimalo
12. Alex Nankivell
13. Anton Lienert-Brown
14. Sean Wainui
15. Damian McKenzie
Reserves:
16. Samisoni Taukei’aho
17. Ollie Norris
18. Ross Geldenhuys
19. Adam Thomson
20. Mitchell Karpik
21. Lisati Milo-Harris
22. Aaron Cruden
23. Quinn Tupaea
Comments on RugbyPass
Christie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
41 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
41 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
41 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
41 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
41 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to comments