Readers of UK Sunday papers might have thought this week that it was a case of right-back-at-ya from Irish rugby.
The pithy observation of Sunday Times rugby correspondent Stephen Jones that Ireland “thrived on the needle-sharp incisiveness of Jamison Gibson-Park at scrumhalf, James Lowe on the wing, Mack Hansen on the other wing, Bundee Aki in midfield – and they were also well served by the odd Irish-born player” was met with this week’s announcement that Connacht’s Shayne Bolton and Munster’s Tom Ahern were to come in to the Irish squad.
The truth is that the remark and the pair’s arrival into the Irish camp was a coincidence. But it has played out sweetly as Bolton, coming in for the injured Hansen, is an Irish-qualified player who was born in Pretoria, South Africa.
It is not Bolton’s first breath of the thin air of a national squad. He was included by Simon Easterby in last year’s Emerging Ireland squad, only for an injury in the 33rd minute of Connacht’s opening URC game against Munster in Thomond Park to force him out of that tour.
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Irish-qualified through his grandmother, Bolton has been with Connacht since 2021 and last March signed a contract that would keep him in Galway for two more years until 2026. In November, Connacht coach Pete Wilkins spoke of the qualities that have made him a favourite in Dexcom Stadium.
[ Shayne Bolton’s journey from South Africa can see him flourish with ConnachtOpens in new window ]
“We’re delighted with the progress Shayne has made this season, and he is rightly establishing himself in the team as a fast and powerful option on the wing,” he said. “I am excited about his potential for further development over the next two years and he is another great example of the type of player that our supporters are so excited to watch and get behind.”
Wilkins might have added that lightning pace also comes with the 24-year-old. Far from being a rangy winger, Bolton arrives compact at about 100kg and strong enough to also play in the centre.
He joins that subset of players in the Irish squad that can seamlessly move around positions, as Garry Ringrose did last weekend against England. Ringrose switched from 13 to the wing when Hansen went off in the first half and reverted to the outside centre when the Australian-born winger returned.
The move will probably excite a lot of people and even if it is only for a few days, it will be seen as an opportunity for Bolton to pick up the mood and character of life in the Irish camp.
He was contacted initially in South Africa by Andy Friend, who was then the Connacht head coach. Friend knew the then 20-year-old was Irish qualified and that the pursuit of his dream to play professional rugby was greater than his desire to stay in college.
In an interview in this paper last year, Bolton described how he left South Africa for the first time to travel alone to a country he didn’t know much about.
It was during the Covid pandemic of 2020, and the aeroplane was ghostly empty. He had a row of seats to himself and everyone on board was wearing a protective mask, so there were zero conversations.
When he arrived, the warm Irish welcome was quarantine for 14 days in a hotel in Dublin because he was arriving from a red-listed country. At the time countries were listed as green, amber or red, with different safety protocols around each colour.
The youngest of five children, Bolton was offered bursaries and scholarships but because his parents did not want to send him away to boarding school, he went to one close to where he lived. He played age-grade rugby for the Bulls at under-16 and under-18 and was in the Cheetahs academy for two years. However, he was denied an extension with the Bloemfontein franchise, although continued to play for the University of the Free State in the Varsity Cup.
[ Connacht sign Irish-qualified South African prodigy Shayne BoltonOpens in new window ]
In hindsight, timing was good, and it was when he was playing college rugby that the phone call arrived from Friend.
“I’m very close to my gran,” he said in November. “She lives close by to my parents in South Africa, and I saw her every Sunday or every second Sunday, and I was always aware that my family comes from here. Her parents died when she was young in a car crash, so she was sent to England for a couple of years and then to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she spent most of her life.”
Gran is Noreen Stapleton, who originally came from the Dublin suburb of Blackrock. She can be proud that her grandson has already been charming people with his Irish accent.
“We plucked him out of a backwater in South Africa and saw him as a project,” Wilkins told RTÉ. “It was a bit of experimentation, trying him as that power winger on the right wing and he’s just thrived on it, getting his hands on the ball and a bit more space around him.
“So, there’s more to come from him. I think there’s incredible explosiveness and just a real confidence about him when he’s got the ball in hand.”
Given this week, prophetic words.
