Internationals / Ralph Ellis / 21 May 2009 / Leave a comment

As Steve Thompson is recalled to the England squad for the first time in nearly three years, Ralph Ellis says that MPs could learn a lot from the Brive hooker...

Paying back money is pretty much the story of the week. And if it's MPs returning the cash for cleaning their moat, or for interest on the mortgage they accidentally "forgot" for 20 months they'd paid off, it doesn't reflect too well on anybody involved.

So here's a tale this morning where a sportsman has refunded half a million pounds he got given because he turned out not to deserve it - and it actually makes him a good guy!

Steve Thompson is back in England's rugby squad for the first time in nearly three years and more than deserves to be there. He'd collected his insurance payout and turned to coaching after a horrific injury appeared to have ended his career. But working in the coaching team for French club Brive convinced him the surgery he'd had was actually strong enough for him to play again - and so he refunded the cash and went back to training.

Now aged 31 he's been called up by Martin Johnson - the man he scrimmaged alongside in the 2003 World Cup - for the impending games against the Barbarians and then home and away with Argentina.

"I didn't think this would happen," he's told this morning's papers. "It's cost me a lot of money and some might have thought I was stupid but I've never regretted doing it. I've worked hard to come back after getting massively overweight and trained the hardest I ever have to get myself in nick. The way England are looking to play is right up my street. I'm a bit more relaxed now and it's like a second chance with everything a bonus for me and I'm playing better for it."

Thompson's recall - he has 47 caps so now has the chance to reach 50 - blows apart with one big bang the RFU's policy of trying to stop England's top players chasing the money and lifestyle on offer in French rugby. Jonny Wilkinson's move to Toulon this week had already left it damaged - if he gets fit again there's no way he won't get an international recall. And with Andy Goode having already given Brive a player in Johnson's Six Nations team it's now obvious that England have to find a way to work with their exiled players rather than without them.

Riki Flutey from Wasps and Jamie Noon from Newcastle will be joining Thompson at Brive next season, and provided Northampton beat Bourgoin tomorrow night in the European Challenge Cup final they can look forward to playing in next season's Heineken Cup (Saints are [1.8] to win by more than 7.5 points).

As befits a man who paid back so much money, Thompson says it's the lifestyle and the type of rugby which is the bigger attraction to French rugby than the top salaries. "The fun is back in my game. The move has changed my entire outlook."

Incidentally, Wilkinson's new club are [1.4] favourites to beat Clermont in the French Top 14 play-off semi-finals next weekend, and [2.24] to win the Grand Final.

Five things you might not know about Steve Thompson

1. Originally known as Steve Walter - his stepfather's surname - he changed to his natural dad's name but is still known as "Wally" by his friends

2. He was a national roller skating champion in his teens. "It's not something I like to go into, it's like saying you were a ballerina".

3. He proposed to his wife in Sydney just hours after the 2003 World Cup final victory and they married a year later

4. He claims to be a keen golfer, but he's clearly not that keen - his handicap is 15!

5. On his days off at Brive he joins other players going hunting for sanglier - wild boar - in the nearby Haute-Correze forests