James Gordon Thompson’s first taste of senior international rugby was as full back in the Scotland team who beat Ireland in the club international at Meggetland in March 2007. The following season he added to international honours with selection in the Scotland sevens squad for all eight rounds of the IRB’s 2007-2008 World Series.

On his sevens debut in the Dubai tournament he had a try in each of the wins against France and the Arabian Gulf, results that took the Scots through to the Cup quarter-finals, and in Hong Kong he scored a couple in the win against Portugal. A week after the Australian tournament in Adelaide he was in the Scottish Thistles’ squad who won the Melrose club’s 125th anniversary sevens.

Immediately after the final tournament in that world series, when the Scots reached the Plate final on their home turf at Murrayfield, Jim crossed the Atlantic with the Scotland A squad for the Barclays Churchill Cup, where he played in two of the three matches, scoring a vital try on debut in the win against Argentina, a result that took his team through to the final.

A further Scotland A appearance followed in the February 2009 match against the Irish at the RDS, Dublin. Four months later he started at full back in all three of Scotland A’s wins in the IRB Nations Cup success in Bucharest, and in November that year he scored 14 points, including a try, in the 38-7 win against Tonga at Netherdale, Galashiels. He went on to feature against Ireland A and USA Eagles in 2010, and was at full-back for the 32-13 win over Ireland Wolfhounds in January 2011.

A month after the A international in Dublin he was recalled to the short-game squad for the RWC Sevens in Dubai, where Scotland won the Plate competition, and he continued in the squad for the subsequent IRB tournaments in Hong Kong, Adelaide (Australia), Twickenham, and Murrayfield.

A month after the A international in Dublin he was recalled to the short-game squad for the RWC Sevens in Dubai, where Scotland won the Plate competition, and he continued in the squad for the subsequent IRB tournaments in Hong Kong, Adelaide (Australia), Twickenham, and Murrayfield. He has also played for Edinburgh in the Magners League, though it was only at the end of the 2007-2008 season that got a professional contract. Previously he had played age-grade rugby for Edinburgh as well as cricket for the East of Scotland under-16 team.

Jim is a grandson of “Voice of Rugby” commentator Bill McLaren, son of TV racing presenter Derek Thompson, and nephew and cousin of Scotland scrum halves Alan and Rory Lawson.