{"id":267874,"date":"2026-01-28T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/267874\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:52:10","slug":"the-meteoric-rise-of-billy-bohan-from-connacht-academy-to-ireland-six-nations-squad-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/267874\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018meteoric rise\u2019 of Billy Bohan from Connacht academy to Ireland Six Nations squad \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks short of a year ago at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, Billy Bohan lined out for the Irish Under-20s<\/a> against Scotland Under-20s in their second match of the Six Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leinster\u2019s<\/a> Alex Usanov had suffered a tournament-ending knee injury in the first match against England and the Galway Corinthians loosehead prop Bohan stepped up.<\/p>\n

On Monday, injuries to others intervened again as Bohan stepped into another world as he joined the Ireland squad on their flight to the training camp in Portugal with more than a chance of playing against France next week. <\/p>\n

From there to here has been quite the journey for the young prop, who has benefited from one of the old adages in rugby \u2013 that every injury for one player is an opportunity for another.<\/p>\n

For Bohan, a grandson of former Irish coach Mick Doyle\u2019s daughter Amanda, injuries to Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle have made his January potentially transformational.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a meteoric rise for him,\u201d says Galway Corinthians coach Ambrose Conboy. \u201cHe was playing [AIL Division] 2A at Halloween and could now potentially play in the Six Nations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an exceptional place to be. That tells you about the character he has. But I have always found his attitude and interaction excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bohan'sBohan’s father Enda lined out with Lansdowne for many seasons and propped for Leinster under captain Liam Toland and coach Matt Williams. Photograph: INPHO\/James Crombie <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were three things that I liked about him. His attitude and his application were very good off the pitch and on the pitch. He was a natural leader. His skill set would have been high, but he also has a good personality. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good kid to chat to. We call him a kid now and he\u2019s just gone into national camp, which is mad at 20 years of age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Should Irish players have been wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the Six Nations?<\/p>\n

A product of Newbridge College, now an important conduit for players destined for the Irish team, Bohan hopes to follow fellow graduates and international players, brothers Sam and Cian Prendergast and Jimmy O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

In transition year at school he played as a tighthead prop before moving to loosehead. By the time he was leaving Newbridge, both Leinster and Connacht were showing interest.<\/p>\n

His rugby lineage comes down both sides of the family tree with his father Enda lining out with Lansdowne for many seasons and propping for Leinster under captain Liam Toland and coach Matt Williams. <\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Lion’s Luka Tsirekidze tackles Bohan. Photograph: INPHO\/James Crombie <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a very good rugby brain,\u201d says Newbridge coach Johne Murphy, who spent time professionally with Leicester Tigers and Munster. \u201cHe played in TY as a tighthead on a team that got to a [Schools Cup] semi-final and then in sixth year they got knocked out by Roscrea in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a choice to make when he was leaving. He was offered an academy contract straight out of school by Connacht and Leinster offered him a sub academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt he would end up at loosehead. He definitely has a bite and the rugby knowledge and the mentality to be able to take up all the information on board and deliver on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bohan\u2019s challenge will be to get up to the speed and tempo of international rugby before Andy Farrell<\/a> picks his first 23-man squad for the opening Six Nations<\/a> match in Paris on February 5th. <\/p>\n

A setpiece against older and stronger campaigners such as La Rochelle and France\u2019s 35-year-old tighthead Uini Atonio, should he overcome a chest injury, is certain to be a work in progress.<\/p>\n

But it won\u2019t be too dissimilar for the pair of Munster loosehead props in camp, Jeremy Loughman and Michael Milne, who have five and two caps respectively. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis 50-60 minutes the other night [for Connacht against Leinster] was very good,\u201d says Murphy. \u201cHe\u2019s taken each stage step by step and he\u2019s taken it in his stride. This has come earlier for him than anyone would have thought. I\u2019d have no doubt from a messaging and mentality perspective he\u2019ll have no bother taking it on board over the next week or 10 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be incredible for him and it puts him in the space of World Cup talk and trying to develop a frontrow, which is good … bring him along through that pathway and have potentially five to six to double figure games by the time that World Cup comes around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few weeks short of a year ago at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, Billy Bohan lined out for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28454,61,60,1449,11287,43,15551],"class_list":["post-267874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-connacht-rugby","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-news","tag-six-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}