{"id":328479,"date":"2025-12-21T17:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T17:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/328479\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T17:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T17:36:10","slug":"im-just-seeing-how-the-chiefs-season-plays-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/328479\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I\u2019m just seeing how the Chiefs season plays out’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Tyrone Thompson<\/a> signed for the Newcastle<\/a> Knights in the NRL, some may have thought that his rugby union career was done, but he knew a return was still on the cards.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks<\/a> XV and Maori All Black representative has only signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs, and is up against two high-quality hookers who have both played for Scott Robertson\u2019s All Blacks this year.<\/p>\n

Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho has continued his position in the All Blacks as the reserve hooker, while Brodie McAlister<\/a> made his debut at FMG Stadium Waikato, where he scored a try in his first Test.<\/p>\n

Thompson, who has played 29 times for Hawke\u2019s Bay, 18 for Wellington, and 22 for the Chiefs, moved to the NRL to join his brother, Leo, at the Newcastle Knights.<\/p>\n

Thompson played 17 times for the NSW reserve grade side in Australia, while only featuring three times for the main NRL side in 2025.<\/p>\n

That move didn\u2019t work out, with Thompson making the move back to the 15-man code ahead of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season with the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old told the\u00a0New Zealand<\/a> Herald\u00a0after training in Hamilton that he wasn\u2019t sure what the future held for him after the NRL season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure if I was going to come back, I knew I was going to end up at rugby eventually, but I wasn\u2019t sure if it was going to be this year, or next year. It\u2019s just the way it played out,\u201d Thompson told Doug Laing from the New Zealand Herald.<\/p>\n

The hooker returned to pre-season training before Christmas for the Chiefs, before any of the international players have returned, as they are due back in the new year.<\/p>\n

But for Thompson, he said he\u2019s enjoying getting \u201cstraight into it\u201d, as he tries to get himself ready for the 2026 season after a campaign playing a different sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I had to get used to the movements and stuff like that, but it\u2019s all come natural,\u201d the Chiefs<\/a> hooker said.<\/p>\n

Speaking about his future aspirations, and thoughts on what level he could get too in the sport, Thompson is quick to explain that playing for the All Blacks would be a dream come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking the All Blacks is always the ambition of every eligible rugby player who comes and plays in New Zealand, I reckon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that happens, it will be mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite playing for Wellington<\/a> earlier on in his career in New Zealand in the NPC, the Maori All Black can\u2019t see himself playing for any other provincial team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just seeing how the Chiefs season plays out, but I don\u2019t see myself being in any other NPC team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Tyrone Thompson signed for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL, some may have thought that his rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-328479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}