Rugby: BoP retreat offers captain redemption

By Chris Rattue

An isolated beach in the Bay of Plenty has been the location which has helped to relaunch the rugby career of prop Paul Thomson, who in his first season as captain has led Auckland back into the NPC semifinals.

The 25-year-old loosehead prop will lead Auckland against North Harbour at Eden Park on Saturday night in another step in a career which was firstly under a cloud when Thomson beefed up to 130kg, and secondly when he suffered a serious neck injury.

On both occasions, Thomson headed to Whitianga Bay (population 10) - where his mother lives - near Opotiki.

Thomson had travelled a fairly traditional route to rugby prominence in Auckland. He went to Remuera Primary and Intermediate then Auckland Grammar, played Roller Mills rugby and captained an Auckland under-13 side, and played for the Auckland and New Zealand Colts.

He was also in the New Zealand Secondary schools side (which included names like Lomu, Cullen, Alatini, Spencer, Maka, Blowers, Willis, and Oliver) who thrashed England in 1993, although he was then dropped against Australia.

Thomson's Auckland Grammar First XV side included Jeremy Stanley, Charles Riechelmann and Doug Howlett, the 1992 side captained by Stanley being unbeaten.

But after leaving school, the large Thomson frame, which was employed as a pub bouncer in Parnell for six months, began getting even larger.

"I was 130kg of fat," said Thomson, whose playing weight is now around 120kg.

"I went to Whitianga Bay and did the river runs. There were two rivers. One was 7km from the house and the other 10km, and I'd run to alternate ones each day. I lost 14kg in seven weeks. It just dripped off."

Thomson also headed to the Bay of Plenty retreat when he was recuperating from an operation to rectify a prolapsed disc injury, similar to the one that has ended the careers of other props like Olo Brown.

Thomson, who had just completed the 1997 Super 12 season for the title-winning Blues, believes the injury had been building for some time before it flared in a match between New Zealand Maori and Samoa.

"I had hardly been able to move my neck for weeks but I thought it was just the way it was when you were playing at that level," he said.

"Quite a few doctors told me I wouldn't be able to come back. But my surgeon, Peter Robinson, was just fantastic.

"Apparently it is quite a common injury in gridiron, although I am one of the first players to have come back from it at this level of rugby in New Zealand."

Thomson remembers two dates well. He had the operation on January 13, 1998, and played his first game back in a Blues trial on January 22 this year, before returning to top-level rugby in the Super 12.

In between, he returned to Whitianga Bay three or four times to help his recovery, lying for hours in a stream to allow the cool water to flow between his neck and brace he had to wear.

"The hardest thing coming back is getting over it mentally. The neck is the only good thing about my body at the moment," he said.

Under 11th-hour coaching appointment Maurice Trapp, Auckland crashed to their worst NPC finish of eighth last season with Mark Carter the captain. Thomson may not have been the obvious choice as a new leader when Wayne Pivac and Grant Fox took over, but he had some pedigree as the Auckland Colts captain.

"It had been hinted to me by Graham Henry that I would be looked at as a possible captain," said Thomson.

"Captaincy doesn't really worry me. If it had gone to someone else like Charlie Riechelmann it would have been fine. I just see it as a job you do.

"My strength is I know people and understand what makes them tick.

"I'm not the best player in this side and I'm not the worst but I think I know how to make the younger guys and the older guys combine well together.

"I have the added advantage of not having played last year, although it was the hardest year of my life.

"It helped me to see the whole picture of rugby, how big it is, and all the associated things like the corporate world's involvement."

It is four years since Thomson made his debut for Auckland, which just happened to be against North Harbour.

And in a touch of irony surrounding his first semifinal match as captain, Thomson's opponent in that non-championship match was Scott Palmer, who has since crossed lines and now props up the Auckland scrum with Thomson.