Fergus Thomson is an experienced, polished hooker who has long been a familiar face in the Glasgow Warriors ranks. He was part of the wider Scotland squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but unfortunately fell victim to a shoulder injury.

He experienced Heineken Cup rugby with Glasgow Warriors as a 19-year-old when he appeared as a replacement in the match against Sale Sharks at Heywood Road in January 2003, though it was nearly two years later before he made his Celtic League debut as a substitute in the Hughenden victory against The Borders in November 2004.  His first start for Glasgow was not until three years after his debut, and that, too, was in a Heineken Cup tie, when Warriors beat Bourgoin at Firhill in January 2006. By then, he had played 20 Glasgow games as a replacement.

Thomson, who captained Scotland A in the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup in Canada and the USA, won his first cap as a substitute in the Bank of Scotland Corporate International against Ireland at Murrayfield in August 2007, only a month after he had been called into the Rugby World Cup training squad as a replacement for the injured Dougie Hall.

His international debut was followed only three days later with his selection in the finalised World Cup squad, and his second cap, also as a replacement, followed against South Africa two weeks after his first. His first start, his eighth cap, was against Italy in Rome in Scotland’s final match in the 2008 RBS 6 Nations Championship. Fergus has also played in 10 games for Scotland A, including all three in each of the Barclays Churchill Cup tournaments in 2006, 2007, and 2008 – captaining the side to the final in 2008.

Fergus had earlier worn the Scotland colours in under-19 and under-21 international rugby. His under-19 honours included the IRB’s 2002 World Junior Championship, and in the two subsequent years he played in all but one of Scotland’s 21 under-21 internationals, with a run of 16 in a row that included a 33-22 win against England at Newbury in the 2003 IRB Under 21 World Championship.

Fergus, a former pupil of Bell Baxter High School in Cupar, Fife, is a member of the Scottish Institute of Sport. His father, Mel, is a former British Universities’ weight-lifting and boxing champion.

Honours: Scotland, Scotland A, Scotland U21, Scotland U19