Western Force hooker Nic Dolly says rugby can learn from league’s model on foreign players after Lions uproar
Given his unique rugby journey from playing club rugby in Sydney to representing England and back to Australia, Western Force hooker Nic Dolly has a different take on the foreign player outrage.
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“If it wasn’t for English rugby, I don’t know if I would be playing professionally.”
Nic Dolly is more qualified to talk about the angst surrounding southern hemisphere-born players in the British & Irish Lions squad than most.
He could well have been one of them had it not been for injuries.
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Now, he’ll be likely be scrumming against Lions prop Will Stuart when the pair come off the bench in the Lions’ tussle with the Western Force on Saturday night.
Dolly, 26, played his one and only Test for England in 2021 alongside Lions tourists Stuart, Marcus Smith, Tom Curry and captain Maro Itoje.
Dolly is now qualified to play for the Wallabies, and has inked a contract extension with the Force until the end of 2028, with the ambition of representing at the home World Cup in 2027.
But he sneers at the criticism of the Lions selecting overseas-born players including Australians Sione Tuipulotu, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham, Kiwis Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park, and South Africans Josh van der Flier, Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman.
“The only people that complain are the people that are from the country that you were in, or the country that are versing you, but at the same time, they wouldn’t know who you are if you stayed,” Dolly said.
“I see it as a great thing.”
The Lions were annoyed when Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt referred to their midfield pairing of Tuipulotu and Aki as a “southern hemisphere centre partnership”.
Much has been made of the number of foreign-born players in their squad, but Dolly says the game can learn a valuable lesson from a rival.
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“My best example is you look at rugby league and a lot of the NRL players are going back to represent Samoa, Tonga, and all it’s done is made the game so much more competitive,” Dolly said.
“You look back 10 years ago, Australia would dominate, New Zealand would dominate, and there wouldn’t be much in between.
“Whereas now, you play Samoa, you play Tonga, that’s a pretty 50-50 Test match and all that stuff just creates more competition.
“I think similar with rugby union, you look at how Scotland’s grown over the years and yes, they might have a few international players like Tuipulotu but fair credit to him. He’s gone over there, he’s not got an opportunity here, and he’s made a name for himself.
“Now he’s on the Lions tour. If he stays here, he’s not getting that opportunity.
“I don’t see how people could say that he doesn’t deserve it.”
Dolly was in the same boat.
He grew up in Sydney playing for Eastwood, but was consistently ignored for junior representative honours.
After finishing high school, he went to on a family holiday to visit his grandparents in England.
His grandfather Tony Pulin, who used to buy him England rugby shirts as gifts when he was younger, convinced him to do training with the Sale rugby academy, and pretty soon he was playing for their under-18s side in the national grand final against Harlequins, who had Marcus Smith as playmaker.
Dolly’s holiday suddenly turned into an extended stay when he was offered a five-year deal by Sale and picked for the England under-18s team courtesy of his ancestry.
“Just purely from what I’d seen in Australia, I didn’t make Schoolboys and all that, I didn’t think it was a pathway,” Dolly said.
“So for me, this was an opportunity to do all these awesome things with so many great players and then obviously get a professional contract out of it. I was like, ‘Wow, this is what I want to do’. And to get it in such like a short period of time and, for them to believe in me just gave me so much confidence.
“I felt very indebted to English rugby. I’ve always grown up on English rugby as well, my granddad and my dad, they’re both rugby mad and my mum’s is English through and through, he used to always buy us English jerseys when we were growing up.
“So I feel a lot of pride for both heritages. If people ask me, ‘What nationality are you?’ I would say I’m Australian, but with these new law changes and having the opportunity to represent your heritage, I think is super important.
“We want to be proud of that. And if I had the opportunity to play for both teams, I’d feel the absolute utmost pride to do both.”
But while he was playing in England, Covid hit. Competitions stopped, and clubs were unable to pay their players.
Dolly was living with partner Megan Kirby at her parents’ house, and to generate income he began running personal training classes in their backyard.
He enjoyed it so much, Dolly started his own personal training business, BuildU Fitness, which has amassed now 48,000 Instagram followers while he’s got 50 clients he trains in Perth.
READ MORE: HOW WALLABIES’ $80K MASTERSTROKE SILENCED LIONS
It is what he will fall back on once his rugby career is finished, and Dolly credits his dad Michael and mum Sharon for his relentless work ethic, having watched them run their building business for 20 years while raising four children.
When he made his debut for England, coming off the bench to help them defeat world champions South Africa 27-26 at Twickenham, Dolly was on top of the world.
But the perils of rugby were about to crash down on him.
After being named in England’s touring squad for Australia in 2022, Dolly suffered a season-ending knee injury after an illegal crocodile roll tackle playing for Leicester.
Then came a nerve injury in his arm that left him unable to throw.
Leicester, who he’d won a premiership with, cut him loose in 2024, and he found an opportunity in Western Australia.
“I’ve got to give full credit to my parents, I’ve seen how hard my dad worked, he ran his own business for 20-odd years, my mum worked, looking after four kids that were under the age of three and then also doing a university degree, just to see the hours that they’ve all put in,” Dolly said.
“That’s where I’ve got it from, just them instilling that attitude of, whatever life throws at you, just get on with it. There’s been a lot of things that they’ve probably had to deal with and they’ve just got on with it.
“They’ve both been very strong individuals and certainly have instilled into all us kids that you’ve just got to roll with the punches a bit.”
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Originally published as Western Force hooker Nic Dolly says rugby can learn from league’s model on foreign players after Lions uproar
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