KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks have found the perfect role for flanker Adam Thomson, who's never been sure what position to call his own on the rugby field.
Thomson will pack down on the right hand side of the scrum - therefore switching between the blindside and openside flank - when he makes his first test start against England in Christchurch on Saturday night.
Jersey number 6-1/2? That suits the rangy Highlanders forward just fine.
"I don't know if I'm a traditional six, probably more of a seven. But there's always been that debate about where I belong on a rugby field," Thomson said.
"The setup we've got with the All Blacks, playing left and right, is pretty handy. It gives me a taste of both."
It was the 26-year-old's dynamic Super 14 form, almost entirely as a blindside, that has seen him rocket from oblivion - he wasn't even picked for the 2007 Super 14 - into the national loose forward mix.
Suddenly he is sharing the workload with arguably the world's premier forward, left-sided flanker and captain Richie McCaw.
Thomson confesses his experience on the openside has been of the "bits and pieces" variety in recent seasons, usually filling in at club or Otago level in the case of injuries.
Renowned for his pace and lineout leaping, he has been undergoing a crash course in the rigours of arriving first to the breakdown.
"I've been doing a bit of training with Richie this week, just learning the lines of a seven. He's not a bad teacher to have showing you the ropes. It's been going all right."
Thomson was born in Christchurch and spent most of school years there after an early childhood in Ashburton. A teammate in his last year at Christchurch Boys High School was a certain Daniel Carter.
He shifted to Dunedin to enjoy life studying physical education at Otago University - "Speights was my major" - before a stint with the national sevens team thrust his career forward and energised his passion for rugby.
Sevens and the open nature of the Super 14 suits the speedy Thomson, who admits a new mindset will be needed against a big, cohesive English pack who will be intent on keeping the test tight.
"They're a pretty physical mob. The All Blacks did well (last week) to soak that up at the start and come back like they did," he said of the 37-20 first test win at Eden Park.
"A lot of stuff's been said about them this week and they'll be pretty pumped up and fired up to prove people wrong and show they've still got it."
Thomson made his debut off the bench against Ireland two weeks ago but wasn't required last week as the All Blacks kept Jerome Kaino at No 8 and Rodney So'oialo as the second flanker. Kaino makes way this week and So'oialo is restored at the back of the scrum.
"I got a taste of it in the Ireland test but I left the field knowing that wasn't enough," Thomson said.
- NZPA
