Tyrone Thompson back in the heat of training with Super Rugby Pacific side the Chiefs in Hamilton. Photo / The Chiefs
A seeming shot’s eye for one berth will be Codie Taylor, if he holds together, with over 100 appearances for the All Blacks and aged 36 at the time of what would be his fourth Rugby World Cup tournament.
But Thompson, who has played three times for the Maori All Blacks and three times for second-string national side the All Blacks XV, faces it tough enough just at the Chiefs, on a single-season contract and up against All Blacks Samisoni Taukei’aho and Brodie McAlister.
After 29 appearances for the Bay, 22 for the Chiefs and an earlier 18 for Wellington in the NPC – with 27 tries along the way – Thompson was nudging the next step, but has no regrets about the transtasman mission that featured just three NRL appearances for the struggling Knights, the rest being 17 games in the NSW Cup.
Straight off the training field in Hamilton, with temperatures into the 30s a feature of the first week back in squad training, Thompson said his stint with rugby league was to “take the opportunity”.
But, with a break since the end of the rugby league season in September, in contrast with a rapid leap from the end of the NPC into the Newcastle camp 12 months ago, it’s given him another opportunity.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back,” he said. “I knew I was going to end up at rugby eventually, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be this year, or next year. It’s just the way it played out.”
Training started on November 27 – 11 weeks before the start of the 2026 competition, and Thompson says he’s enjoyed getting “straight into it”.
“I thought I had to get used to the movements and stuff like that, but it’s all come natural,” he said.
“Making the All Blacks is always the ambition of every eligible rugby player who comes and plays in New Zealand, I reckon,” he said. “If that happens, it will be mean.”
Thompson last played for the Magpies scoring a try as the side exited the 2024 NPC with a 19-17 quarterfinal loss to Bay of Plenty in Tauranga.
On the potential of joining the squad to try to help Hawke’s Bay to a first premier title, he said: “I’m just seeing how the Chiefs season plays out, but I don’t see myself being in any other NPC team.”