He was selected to participate in the 1912–13 South Africa rugby tour to the British Isles and France, and was capped in three tests, against Scotland, Ireland and Wales, all in 1912.
He is buried in the Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, near his fellow countryman and teammate Jacky Morkel, who died a few weeks before him.
The contemporary rugby journalist and author E. H. D. Sewell recounted seeing the game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on 23 November 1912, and said of Thompson: "I have never seen a better individual performance than his on that frost-bound pitch... Only a few have I seen to equal that all-round display".
At the conclusion of that campaign, he responded to the call for recruits to serve in East Africa, and was drafted into the 5th Regiment of the South African Infantry.
[7] The troops, who had to march hundreds of miles through difficult terrain, cutting their way through dense bush, suffered greatly from malaria and a shortage of rations.