Former All Black Adam Thomson set for Mitre 10 Cup return - reports

Ex-All Black Adam Thomson is reportedly set for a return to New Zealand’s premier domestic competition, just under a year and a half after he was released from a Tokyo hospital after spending 57 days nursing a serious spinal infection.

Stuff is reporting that the 37-year-old loose forward, who turned out for North Harbour club side Takapuna alongside current All Blacks prop Karl Tu’inukuafe on Saturday, will sign a deal with North Harbour ahead of the upcoming Mitre 10 Cup season.

A return to first-class rugby in New Zealand for the first time in seven years would add another chapter to Thomson’s astonishing comeback from lumbar discitis, a painful infection of the spine which left him unable to walk and kept him hospitalised from between December 2017 and February 2018.

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At the time of being admitted into hospital, Thomson had last played in the Top League for the Canon Eagles in Japan, but hasn’t played professional rugby since then.

In April, he signed a deal with the Utah Warriors in the Major League Rugby competition in the United States which will keep him stateside until the end of next season.

However, he didn’t play for the club in any of their five remaining regular season matches after joining the team.

With the final of the MLR being played last month, and the next season not expected to get underway until January, the Mitre 10 Cup would provide Thomson with a chance to regain match fitness and fine tune any skills that have deteriorated from his game during his prolonged spell on the sidelines.

Thomson last played in the competition in 2012, when his Otago side, who he made 50 appearances for over an eight-year span, succumbed to a 41-16 thrashing at the hands of Counties Manukau in the Championship final in Pukekohe.

That was Thomson’s second last outing in first-class New Zealand rugby, with his final appearance coming just two weeks later during the All Blacks’ 51-22 win over Scotland in Edinburgh, the last of his 29 tests.

The 2011 World Cup-winner also played 68 times for the Highlanders over six seasons from between 2006 and 2012, and went on to play almost 30 matches for the Reds and Rebels in 2015 and 2016.

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