From the third tier of the All-Ireland League to Test rugby, it’s been a formative eight months for Billy Bohan.
Still just 20 years old and still officially an academy player, the Connacht loosehead prop has had a meteoric rise to becoming a full Ireland international.
When the facts of his rapid rise are repeated back to him, the Kildare native admits it’s still difficult to digest.
“It’s weird to hear that,” Bohan says, after Saturday’s 36-20 win against Japan.
“A few years have gone by pretty quick, from playing 2A to here.
“I’m not sure how many months it is, but it feels like it’s been a few years since that, to be honest. So it’s funny.”
After playing for Ireland at the U20 World Championship this time last year, Bohan’s targets for this season were far more modest, only for a well-timed run in the Connacht team and a spate of injuries to Ireland’s loosehead props, seeing him catch the eye of Andy Farrell before the Six Nations earlier this year.
And while he believed he was good enough to become an Ireland international, he admits he never expected it to come so soon.
Billy Bohan celebrates his first cap with his parents, Enda and Amanda, as well as his brothers Jamie and Tom
“To be honest, I wouldn’t have even thought I would have got as much Connacht caps [this season].
“I was hoping for maybe one or two [Connacht games] coming into the season, but it’s gone pretty well with Stuart coming in, so it’s clicked well for me. So I’m just very grateful for the opportunity.”
The young prop comes from a family steeped in rugby. His father, Enda, propped for Leinster and was a stalwart of Lansdowne in the AIL, while on his mother’s side of the family, his grandfather, the great Mick Doyle, played for and coached Ireland.
Bohan was still just 19 years old in December when he made his Connacht debut against Black Lion in the Challenge Cup, but finished the season as their first choice as Stuart Lancaster’s side reached the quarter-finals of the URC.
He played 15 games for the province in total, while he got his first taste of international rugby when he played for an Ireland XV against an England selection in February.
And that Six Nations experience as part of the wider Ireland squad gave the rookie prop the perfect grounding ahead of this summer’s Nations championship tour and his Test debut.
“I think that was huge, especially coming into here, because you learn the lineout systems. You meet the lads, I think, which is the biggest thing.
Bohan played 15 games for Connacht in his debut season, and is moving to a senior contract this summer
“It’s always hard coming in when you don’t know lads, but I got comfortable in the Six Nations, so then it really helped coming in this summer.
“When I went into Portugal, I remember Andy said to me, ‘don’t try to fit in, just be yourself’.
“With Connacht, I had started there, got a good few games, so he said, ‘you’ve been going well, just keep it going. Don’t think you’re not able for this level, because you are’,” Bohan added.
One of four debutants in Saturday’s win against Japan, Bohan was one of three from Connacht to earn their first caps last night, with his provincial team-mates Sam Illo and Sean Jansen also making the step up to Test rugby,
Bohan played 26 minutes off the bench at McDonald Jones Stadium as Ireland made it two bonus-point victories from two in the Nations Championship.
For he and Illo in particular, the pressure was on to help Ireland close out the win, which was very much in the balance heading into the final quarter as Japan cut Ireland’s lead back to 26-20.
In the lead-up to the game, Japan head coach Eddie Jones went out of his way to put a spotlight on the two rookie props, suggesting earlier in the week that Japan would “dominate” the Irish scrum early in the second half.
In the end, that battle could be described as honours even; a penalty either way between the sides and a couple of competitive nudges.
Sam Illo and Billy Bohan sing Ireland’s call
And Bohan says the Irish players leaned into those words from the Japan head coach.
“We had a team meeting, or a forwards meeting yesterday, and we walked in and that was on the screen, the comment he [Jones] made.
“It was a good challenge. We put the challenge down. Obviously, they put a bit of pressure on, but I think we did pretty well, so I’m proud of all the lads.”
If anything, being the subject of one of Jones’s verbal hand grenades felt like a compliment.
“It was cool, yeah. I didn’t think too deep into it because coaches make comments, but we still have to stick to our process.
“We don’t want to get fired up and then be erratic, so we just stick to our stuff.”