When Nic Dolly, a keen rugby playing teen with Eastwood, left Sydney airport five years ago with his family for a Christmas trip to the United Kingdom to visit the grandparents, he could have hardly have imagined that one day he would return as part of an England touring party Down Under.
On Tuesday Dolly, the 22-year-old hooker with a hair cut as wacky as his backstory, was named in Eddie Jones’ pre-tour training squad, along with another player with strong Aussie connections – Louis Lynagh.
While young Louis is the son of World Cup winner Michael and therefore from rugby royalty, he is yet to be capped despite several call ups from England’s Australian coach Eddie Jones.
In contrast to young Lynagh, Dolly, dubbed the ‘human mullet’ is a rugby Cinderella, whose fairytale rise included his first and so far only Test, a one point win over South Africa in November.
Dolly’s selection came at the end of a mad year – he had just 20 hours of senior rugby in the tank when called up by Jones – where a rugby career that had seldom looked like taking off went ballistic.
“The day was mental for me, a serious eye-opener,” Dolly said later. “We get serious amounts of fans at Leicester but I hadn’t played in front of a crowd that big. You want to play the best teams and they [South Africa] are the best team. I don’t think I’d want to have it any other way.”
Aged 17 in December 2016, Dolly, his mum Sharon, brother Alex – a scrum-half at Doncaster – and his sisters went to England for the holidays, and he asked his granddad Tony to find him somewhere to keep fit, the intention being he would return to Eastwood in the new season.
Tony sent out some emails and the academy manager of Sale responded with a trial. He impressed enough to get a contract and Dolly, who said he had never entertained the thought of becoming a pro in Australia, was picked for England Under-20s.
Covid had an impact though and Sale, struggling with tight budgets, let him go.
Dolly fired up a personal training business and then got a call from Coventry that gave him another shot.
He scored a few tries and caught the eye of nearby Leicester Tigers, who snapped him up. On his Premiership debut in September last year he scored two tries against Exeter – no forward had got two on debut in the competition in more than 20 years.
At Leicester he flourished under the club’s former England captain and Tigers coach Steve Borthwick.
“One of the things I love about coaching is helping people achieve their ambitions,” Borthwick said last year. “To see him [Dolly] playing for England is just fantastic.”
Nic Dolly. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
The call up was a shock for the young Aussie.
“I never had aspirations, when I was younger,” Dolly told reporters.
“I didn’t really see a professional pathway in Australia. My granddad, he’s mad for rugby, a few emails flew about and it snowballed from there.”
And did he have any thought of holding out for the Wallabies?
“The choice was made for me in a sense,” he said. His father, Michael, has told the media that Nic’s work rate had been questioned in some quarters at home.
“I had nothing really to go back to in terms of rugby back in Australia and so the obvious decision was to repay the country that have given me the opportunity.
And his captain and front row colleague at Leicester, England’s Ellis Genge, also, almost pointedly, mentioned Dolly was “pretty relentless with his work rate.”
“He goes about his craft very nicely, and wants to get better every day,” Genge added. “He’s a top kid. I have the utmost respect for him on and off the pitch. He’s young, it’s good to have age on your side. Getting a call-up like that, the world is his oyster. He can take the opportunity with both hands. I look forward to seeing him grow more.”
Along with the work rate, Dolly has a fire to succeed.
“Setbacks are inevitable – it’s about how you bounce back from them,” he told reporters ahead of his England debut.
“I didn’t go to private school and I was never picked up by the schools that were major feeders for the Waratahs. After getting released from Sale, I always saw myself getting back into the Premiership. If you’re not willing to work hard then your resilience is null and void, really.”
Jones’ 36-man squad will train in London for three days from Sunday while beginning preparations for the Twickenham match against the Barbarians on June 19, before the three Tests against the Wallabies, in Perth on July 2, Brisbane on July 9 and Sydney on July 16.
Jones has also welcomed back Joe Cokanasiga, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson and Jack Willis to the squad following injury.
Exciting teenage London Irish prospect Henry Arundell – compared to Matt Giteau by Jones – is a notable inclusion, along with teammate Will Joseph and Leicester Tigers’ Jack van Poortlviet.
There are 10 uncapped players, including Lynagh, in the squad.
Arundell has set the English Premiership alight with his sensational running skills and the 19-year-old London Irish full-back has been tipped as a bolter to make the 2023 World Cup.
Saracens prop Mako Vunipola makes a surprise return and is joined by Joe Cokanasiga, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson and Jack Willis, who all missed the Six Nations through injury.
A number of senior players, including Henry Slade, Elliot Daly, Jamie George and Kyle Sinckler, have been omitted but are expected to go to Australia.
England training squad
FORWARDS: Alfie Barbeary (Wasps), Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Nic Dolly (Leicester Tigers), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints), George McGuigan (Newcastle Falcons), Tom Pearson (London Irish), Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks), Will Stuart (Bath Rugby), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Jack Willis (Wasps).
BACKS: Henry Arundell (London Irish), Orlando Bailey (Bath Rugby), Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), George Furbank (Northampton Saints), Will Joseph (London Irish), Louis Lynagh (Harlequins), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Harry Randall (Bristol Bears), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers), Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby).
Malo
Guest
Yeah super rugby is really doing a great job for Australia in terms of results , revenue and spectators. Wake up Twas.
Double Agent
Guest
Waratahs have not been a basket case for decades. Actually have a very respectable record in SR.
Tim J
Roar Rookie
Great post Train, I totally agree mate.
Frankly
Roar Rookie
It's 6 of one and half the dozen the other. What I'm proposing is basically 2 less teams than the NRC on account of the Australia A program. I thing touring would be a great experience for the players and adds interest with the public.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
This is just an example of timing. Dolly played age group rugby for NSW. Played for Western Sydney in junior rep. Went OS at 17 before he’d even be really in the hunt for NSW Gen Blue 20s and got picked up in a system there. Despite Jock whinging it’s because we don’t prioritise club rugby enough, it’s because we prioritise it too much. If we had kids in academy programs at 17 (like the one Dolly joined in the UK) he may have been kept here on the pro pathway.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
It’s no coincidence the rest of the world has moved on from the amateur days and while people like you try and drag us back, we struggle to produce enough players ready for pro rugby
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
And Dolly never played Shute Shield because he left at 17…
Englishbob
Guest
I'll happily concede that my insights are 40 or 50 years behind the curve! Such a shame, when you see what the NRL produces, if RA had just ten percent of those players they'd be dominating.
Gary
Guest
Losing tough working class kids to the other codes ? This has only been happening for the last 50 years that I know of Bob , this is one of our main problems - the gene pool is too narrow and not representing the true picture and why over last 50 years we can only have brief periods at the top when the stars align . Here in Oz most Rugby players have also played a lot of League by age 18 but most Leaguies have rarely played Rugby . Geez if we had reasonable access to the complete pool of oval ball players here in Oz , periods at the top would not be so brief . But we compete with what we have nd are always thereabouts aren’t we.
Targa
Roar Rookie
Really? Don't they have interschool sport days in Australia? They are big in NZ. Is everything done through clubs?
Tim J
Roar Rookie
Congratulations to the young guy, and his grandfather who initiated this. I do not think that he will play in Australia unless injury’s kick in, but he will still be excited to return home with an International side. This unfortunately this is another example of Private Schools killing of Public Schools when it comes to sports, public schools have so much talent but do not get the resources like private schools do.
Malo
Guest
Pathways in NSW- private school , Sydney Uni - TAHS Or Rebels or Force. Forget the rest of the rugby fraternity and grassroots
Malo
Guest
It’s no coincidence that we one two world cups when we relied on the club system to nurture and develop players whilst interest has declined since we relied on the elitist pathway of the super system. The proof is in the world cups. Super means a smaller pool and excessive contracts to a few private school players.
Dean
Roar Rookie
Frankly, I think it is great that us fans are all looking for workable and practical solutions to address player participation and quality of competition to strengthen our national talent pool. I personally think that the ARC/NRC is a preferable solution over players returning to Club Rugby or Super Club tours. My reasoning is that the NRC provided a great level of opportunity for players and coaches (Brad Thorn springs to mind) to be exposed to and participate in a fully professional program. It included players outside of SR Squads and Academies, gave an opportunity for good Club players. Our SR Squads and Wallabies gained a lot of good players from the NRC. I particularly enjoyed watching the matches and seeing new names and faces step up and better established SR players. I think the ideal ending to an NRC/NPC season would be a Bonza/Choice As Mega Round. One in which all of the NPC/NRC Teams arrive in one area, a random draw where the only matches are between teams from opposite sides of the ditch. Each team only plays one game over the weekend. Both comps gets exposed to each other and us fans have a cracking weekend of spectator sport. One weekend a year, alternate countries.
Utah
Guest
His Grandad knew someone who worked with two Englishmen back in the 80s.
josh
Roar Rookie
Nope, shows Australia, where Aussie Rules and Rugby League are ahead of pecking order, have the 1st choice of athletes. There is no way Rugby can compete (even with 2 World Cups this decade) with the NRL and AFL for access. Rugby will continue to be niche.
Crusher_13
Roar Rookie
Is this not the same area where they are afraid gang violence will become the norm at junior RL games?
Greysy
Roar Rookie
Sure, I mean the Shute Shield showed us just how inclusive they are by expelling Penrith from the competition..
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Dolly played junior grade rugby for NSW…
Tooly
Roar Rookie
No Marler or Radwan ?