From hospital hell to rugby field: All Black Adam Thomson's remarkable recovery

Former All Black Adam Thomson has capped off a remarkable recovery from being hospital bound to signing to a new rugby deal.

The 37-year-old has signed with the Utah Warriors in the Major League Rugby competition.

The club have also signed Fijian sevens star Pat Ravouvou, an Olympic gold medallist.

Utah made the semifinals in the inaugural season of Major League Rugby but have had a rough start to 2019 with just two wins from 11 games.

Thomson was admitted to Tsukuba Memorial hospital in Tokyo on December 19 2017, with an illness that left him unable to walk for days and initially had doctors baffled.

He posted from his hospital bed during Christmas 2017 saying he had a long road to recovery ahead after being rushed to hospital in "excruciating pain".

He was later diagnosed with lumbar discitis — an infection in the intervertebral disc space.

View this post on Instagram

Christmas this year so far has been mostly spent in hospital with the BFG giving me the biggest fright in the 6 years we've been doing life together. A few nights ago I had to rush him to A&E in the middle of the night & it's been one hell of an ordeal. But day three and things are finally looking up 👌🏽 There is still no official diagnosis(they suspect it's been a severe infection thats caused serious internal inflamation & excruciating pain) but I'm just so grateful to see him slowly start getting back to his old self (when he starts taking the piss, winding me up and being a menace it's a good sign!) & getting that famous Thomo sense of humour back. Fingers crossed tomorrow he can actually sit up and maybe even walk 🤞I'd love to have him home for Christmas day so that's the goal we are working towards atm 😊💓 What was meant to be a holiday visit for my bro @ra_guru to spend Christmas with us has turned into THE biggest godsend right now. When Adam and I are so far from home and our family & friends at a time like this it's been especially hard so having our favourite third wheel here has been amazing. @ra_guru I'm sorry it's not quite been the holiday you were expecting but thank you for making us smile and bringing some much needed laughter back into our lives. I'm definitely counting my blessings right now and am so thankful for the people that matter the most in my life. Thank you to everyone who has sent us well wishes and reached out, it's not gone unnoticed ❤️

A post shared by Jessie Gurunathan (@jessie_guru) on Dec 21, 2017 at 10:26pm PST

Thomson left New Zealand at the end of the 2012 Super Rugby season after 68 appearances for the Highlanders to take up a contract with the Canon Eagles in Japan.

He returned to Super Rugby in 2015 and '16, playing for the Reds and Rebels respectively, before going back to Japan, linking back up with the Canon Eagles.

In 2017 he joined the NEC Green Rockets in the Japanese Top League.

As well as taking the field for the All Blacks, Thomson represented New Zealand at secondary schools, under-19, under-21 and Sevens levels.