By his own admission Shayne Bolton didn’t have too many options in South Africa when the then Connacht head coach Andy Friend, aware of his Irish qualifications, contacted him in 2021. Then 20, Bolton was sure of one thing: at college he was far more interested in playing rugby than studying.
“I knew I wanted to go somewhere and pursue my dreams,” said Bolton when reflecting on his journey this week ahead of Saturday’s URC meeting with Leinster at the Dexcom Stadium (kick-off 7.35pm). That journey began when he flew to Ireland in June 2021.
“I was so nervous. It was my first time travelling alone. It was in Covid time. The plane was empty. I had my own row. It was crazy, masks on and couldn’t really speak to anybody. The airports were so quiet. I didn’t know where to go or what to do.
“Then I had to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel in Dublin because I was coming from a red-listed country. At least I had a bit of gym equipment that Connacht set up. I was on FaceTime all the time talking to family and friends back home. But I made it through that, and I was excited to get stuck in and start training and learning.”
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It was a long way from Pretoria.
“I got a few scholarships and bursaries from bigger schools but I’m the youngest child [of five], so my parents didn’t want to send me to boarding school. I went to the school around the corner and I think it was the best decision my parents ever made. It was really fun. I loved my rugby there, had great friends.”
He played for the Blue Bulls under-16s and under-18s and had an academy contract for two seasons with the Cheetahs which entailed a scholarship, but he wasn’t offered an extension. He owes his Irish qualifications, his new life and pro career to his grandmother, Noreen Stapleton, from Blackrock in Dublin.
“I’m very close to my gran. 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.”
Bolton has strong hints of an Irish accent now. While that doesn’t come out when he speaks Afrikaans with friends, when he speaks English: “I get a few messages, especially from my [three] brothers.”
Initially though, Bolton took “a few months” adapting to his new life in Galway. “I was struggling to find accommodation, but the team environment was helpful. Every weekend, every off day there’d be somebody asking me to come for coffee with them. Everyone was so inviting and now I feel like one of them. I’ve made great friends here. I’m enjoying life now.”
Coming from college rugby he also admits he had plenty to learn about a professional set-up.
“I’ve had so much help from the players, the coaches and everyone around. When I came over I was mostly a centre but I moved to wing then, and so I had to learn, not a new position, but one I hadn’t played much in.”
As his young body grew into his 100kg frame there were injuries too, but a run of six games around the festive period led to a two-year contract extension. Bolton was also included in the Emerging Ireland squad, only for a knee laceration in Connacht’s opening game against Munster to force him out of that tour.
Many talented rugby players in South Africa miss the net but Bolton isn’t the first example of an unpolished gem who can flourish in the Irish system. His try in Belfast last week was a routine finish but he had several good involvements and despite plenty of options out wide he is likely to be given a third start against Leinster.
“We’re really excited by Shayne,” says head coach Pete Wilkins. “We plucked him out of a backwater in South Africa and saw him as a project.”
Such is Connacht’s midfield they tried the 24-year-old as “a power winger” and he has thrived with the additional space. “But there’s more to come from him in the development of his kicking game and his ability to read and find space. I’m trying to play him a fair bit because just that time in the saddle is an important bit of his education. We’ll all be watching him with interest.”
They won’t be alone.
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