Young Gun: Gareth Thompson – Hartpury College full-back

It was the Gareth Thomson show in Hartpury last week as the full-back scored all of his side’s points in their win against Esher.
The 21-year-old ended the game with 30 points on the back of a hat-trick of tries, three conversions and three penalties.
The students ran away with the National League Two South title in 2014 and last year took the National League One by storm, finishing fifth.
Thompson will graduate at the end of this season but he intends to help his side retain their top five status once more.
“I was at the right place at the right time to be honest and I’ve got to thank my teammates for putting me in scoring positions, especially Steve Leonard,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“I played fly-half last season and I’d say I prefer playing in the No.10 jersey but I’m just happy to be on the field and to be honest I quite enjoy playing at full-back.
“It took a bit of time to get used to the physicality of NL1 but I feel much better now and it’s good to have some older lads in the team to get us up to speed.
“We’ve managed to string some good wins together after our defeat in the opening round to Hull Ionians so things are looking good.
“We’re a young team who like to throw the ball around and we’re looking to tire the bigger teams out by moving them around.
“We’re near the top of the table at the moment and that’s where we’d like to remain for the rest of the season. We surprised a few teams last year but we want to push on and finish in the top five again.”
Thompson is Cardiff born and bred so it was no surprise to see him start his career with the Blues at U16s level.
He went on to represent Wales U18s at the 2012 FIRA tournament in Madrid in a side that included current Welsh internationals Hallam Amos and Nicky Smith.
But a contract failed to materialise so he decided to finish his education before throwing all his efforts in chasing a rugby career.
Now with his Sports and Coaching degree almost complete, he is allowing himself to think about a potential professional rugby career again.
He said: “I split my last year at Hartpury in two to accommodate my rugby. I just wanted to get the most out of both, and the University were nice to allow me to do so.
“I’d like to keep playing rugby next season but I don’t know where that is just yet. We have links with Gloucester but they have a lot of talented youngsters in their squad so I’ll have to wait and see.
“The Championship could be good as a step up from National League One and maybe a more realistic option but I’m not getting carried away.
“I’m glad I have some back up with that degree because as great as playing rugby is you have no guarantee about how things will pan out.
“My experience at the Blues taught me that so now I’ve got my degree I can focus on my rugby.”
NICOLAS VERDIER