Ross Thompson (rugby union, born 1999)

For the Japan international rugby player, see Ross Thompson (rugby union, born 1963).

Ross Thompson (born 10 April 1999)^[1] is a Scotland international rugby union player. He plays for Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship. Thompson's primary position is Flyhalf. Thompson has previously played for Glasgow Warriors and the Ayrshire Bulls.

Ross Thompson

Birth name	Ross Eric Thompson
Date of birth	(1999-04-10) 10 April 1999 (age 26)
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
Notable relative(s)	Eric Thompson, grandfather Kirsty Gilmour, cousin
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fly-half / Fullback Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2017–2019 Glasgow Hawks 24 (42) Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2021–2024 Glasgow Warriors 52 (292) 2024– Edinburgh 26 (166) Correct as of 4 October 2024 Super Rugby Years Team Apps (Points) 2019–2021 Ayrshire Bulls 29 (83) International career Years Team Apps (Points) 2018–2019 Scotland U20 20 (76) 2021– Scotland 6 (22) 2022– Scotland 'A' 2 (10) Correct as of 24 November 2024

Career

Amateur career

Thompson played for Glasgow Hawks. He made 14 appearances for the first team in 2017–18 season scoring 21 pts including 1 try^[2] and 10 appearances in 2018–19 season scoring 21 points.^[3] Peter Horne coached him at the club:^[4]

When he came out of school, I coached him at Glasgow Hawks for a year, and I couldn't believe how far ahead he was of where I would have been at his age. He had such a polished kicking game, he had a really nice passing game, and he was pretty studious – anything you asked him to do, he'd go away and learn it and come back – so he was just a good all-round player.

Professional career

Thompson was signed by the Ayrshire Bulls to play in the Super 6 league in 2019.^[5] He scored 61 points for the club in the 2019–20 season, the 3rd highest points scorer in the league that season.^[6]

Thompson signed for Glasgow Warriors in 2021.^[7] He made his debut for Glasgow Warriors in Round 10 of the 2021–22 URC against Edinburgh coming on as a replacement on 2 January 2021.^[8] He became Glasgow Warrior No. 319. He won man of the match in his first start for the club.^[9] He became the third fastest player to reach 100 points for the Warriors, with a conversion in the URC match against Leinster on 4 June 2021, 153 days after his competitive debut. (Tommy Hayes with a competitive debut on 8 September 1997 secured his 100 points on 24 October 1997. This was only 77 days. Dan Parks with a competitive debut on 19 September 2003 secured his 100 points on 16 January 2004, totalling 119 days. Thompson is one of only 4 Warriors in history to break the 100 points milestone in their debut season for the club, the other being Calvin Howarth who reached that total in 189 days.)^[10] He would go on to add to this in the match with a penalty that secured the win over the Irish provincial Leinster side, with Glasgow winning 15–12.^[11] He won Young Player of the Season for the 2021–22 season in the annual Glasgow Warriors awards;^[12] and then was later announced to also win the Player of the Season award too,^[13] becoming the second player to win both the Young Player and Player of the Season award in the same season; George Horne pulling off the same feat in the 2017–18 season.

On 23 May 2024, Edinburgh announced Thompson would be joining the club ahead of the 2024–25 season.^[14] He made his debut for Edinburgh against Leinster on 20 September 2024, scoring four points.

International career

Thompson has been capped by Scotland U20.^[15] In June 2021 he was called up to the Scotland squad for the Summer internationals.^[16]

Thompson made his Scotland debut against Tonga on 30 October 2021. Scotland won the match 60 - 14, Thompson scoring 2 conversions.^[17]

He was capped by Scotland 'A' on 25 June 2022 in their match against Chile.^[18]

Family

Thompson's grandfather Eric Thompson represented Scotland at cricket; his uncle Graeme Thompson represented Scotland at rugby league; and his cousin Kirsty Gilmour is a Commonwealth Games medalist for Scotland in Badminton.^[19][20]