Wolfhounds skipper Claire Boles (left) and vice-captain Aoife Dalton celebrate with the Celtic Challenge trophy
BY RICHARD BULLICK
CLAIRE Boles is someone who can easily slip under the sporting radar a bit because she’s such an unassuming grafter, but having represented Ireland both at last summer’s Paris Olympics and this year’s women’s rugby World Cup, her credentials speak for themselves.
Playing sevens for Team Ireland at a sold-out Stade de France and facing world champions New Zealand in front of a capacity crowd in Brighton sounds like the stuff of dreams but, for Boles, was due reward for her hard work and dedication over many years.
In between those pinch-herself moments in the green of Ireland, the teak-tough flanker from Fermanagh captained Wolfhounds to the Celtic Challenge crown, really leading from the front with Player of the Match performances in their last two fixtures.
Skipper Boles was one of only two Wolfhounds, along with fellow Ulsterwoman Maebh Clenaghan, to start all 10 matches during the successful title defence for Neill Alcorn’s side which culminated in a 102-0 rout of Edinburgh at Energia Park in early March.
Deservedly named in Ireland’s 2025 Guinness Six Nations squad on the back of her outstanding displays for Wolfhounds, Boles faced a significant challenge to get game-time, given the quality of loose forwards available to Scott Bemand.
Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon and World Rugby’s Breakthrough Award winner Erin King were strong openside options, with the world-class Aoife Wafer, Ulster powerhouse Brittany Hogan, dynamic Munsterwoman Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird and big Grace Moore also in the mix.
However, with injuries playing a part and Nic a Bhaird appearing to fall out of favour, Boles made the matchday squad for the last two rounds of the Championship, coming off the bench in the thumping away win over Wales and agonising defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh.
Versatile back five forward Jane Clohessy won her first cap as a replacement in that Scottish clash and, with King and Dorothy Wall both out of World Cup contention due to injury, she and Boles seemed well in the mix for squad selection.
But when Ireland’s World Cup preparation panel was named a month later, the name of Boles was conspicuously absent and she was also missing from the Ulster training squad announced soon afterwards for this season’s interpros.
A photo of her at Enniskillen RFC in a knee-brace pointed to a possible explanation, but although never officially called up, she was back training with Ireland in July and included in the World Cup squad after coming off the bench in the final warm-up match against Canada.
Current Ireland players (from left) Brittany Hogan, Claire Boles and Neve Jones won the U18 interpros with Ulster
At the tournament, Boles made her World Cup debut against Spain, when she played the full 80 minutes and comfortably topped Ireland’s tackles chart, successfully completing 23 and missing none in the 43-27 win which secured qualification for the knockout stages.
In the following weekend’s Pool C decider against New Zealand, when Ireland had the majority of the 31,000 crowd in Brighton behind them, the 27-year-old came on for injured captain McMahon a few minutes into the second half.
Although McMahon had to sit out the subsequent quarter-final against France, the return to fitness of taliswoman Wafer meant Boles didn’t feature in the matchday squad as Ireland came up agonisingly just short after an epic, controversial encounter.
Most of Ireland’s home-based World Cup contingent just returned to action the Saturday before Christmas but Boles was back with Railway Union considerably sooner in the AIL, scoring four tries from No 8 on her first outing and three more in their next two matches.
She has been replaced as Wolfhounds skipper by last season’s vice-captain Aoife Dalton for the bid by Alcorn’s team to complete a hat-trick of Celtic Challenge titles but the dependable Boles will be a perfect foil for the 22-year-old Ireland Player of the Year in her new role.
Although she hasn’t pulled on her province’s white jersey in recent times, largely due to Irish sevens commitments over a prolonged period, Boles was honoured with Ulster Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year award for last season due to her exploits elsewhere.
“Ulster will always be my home and is something I hold very dear. I’m proud to be from there and to represent everyone from the province,” she told me ahead of the World Cup when asked about the importance of being a visible role model for girls growing up here.
The northern province has struggled at all levels over the past decade and a half, but Boles was part of the talented young Ulster team which won the inaugural Under 18 interpro title back in 2016.
Claire Boles during training as a member of the history-making Irish sevens squad at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Their captain Neve Jones, Hogan and Boles all featured in the recent World Cup, while the other two stand-outs of that Ulster side were utility back Vicky Irwin, now with Sale Sharks, and the multi-talented but injury-jinxed Armagh girl Leah McGoldrick.
“That group was special. Every few years you might get a special group and I was lucky to have that with Enniskillen when I was there and then Ulster at that time. We did very well that year, it was great to win that interpro title,” she reflects.
“I think now the IRFU have put the NTS (National Talent Squad) pathway in place whereby players would get a bit more looking after, a bit more guidance, and I think that has really helped, but having those Under 18 interpros back then was an important platform for us.”
Like Hogan, Boles broke into the Irish sevens set-up as a teenager and she won her first XVs cap off the bench aged just 20 in the 22-5 away win against Scotland in the 2019 Six Nations, making further appearances as a replacement in the defeats to Italy and France.
Ireland didn’t qualify for the delayed Tokyo Olympics but Boles, in her trademark white headband, was part of the squad which clinched their tickets to Paris in May 2023, though she then didn’t make the core group of 12 for the Games themselves 14 months later.
However, injuries to retiring captain Lucy Mulhall and Beibhinn Parsons saw both Boles and fellow travelling reserve Amy Larn get their chance to take to the big stage in front of a record crowd of 66,000 as Ireland’s women finished eighth at their first Olympics.
Several of those Paris Olympians came across to Bemand’s squad last autumn, featuring in the impressive victory over Australia and famous upset of New Zealand which paved the way for Ireland securing runners-up place at the WXV1 tournament in Vancouver.
Having fulfilled her Olympics dream, Dublin-based Boles was lining out for Railway Union in the AIL last autumn alongside her PhD studies ahead of what would prove an unforgettable nine months with Wolfhounds and Ireland.
Boles is someone who has been a high-achiever from an early age but also experienced the ups and downs of sport, with injury intervening at times and some selections not going her way so nothing is taken for granted and each experience is savoured.
A determined, diligent individual, she has always shown willingness to put her head down, work hard, keep patiently applying herself professionally and hope that the rewards will come and the perseverance pay off.
When she sat down for a chat with Local Women Sport at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre the day before the squad departed for the World Cup, Claire was grateful for how things had come together for her for a second consecutive summer.
In some ways, the fields of the family farm in Fermanagh, the academic corridors in Dublin where she shines too, becoming an Olympian and facing the haka before a big World Cup clash can all feel like different worlds.
But the humble Boles moves seamlessly between them and these strands of the Lisbellaw woman’s story, which should inspire any young girl willing to put the effort into their studies and sporting pursuits, are all inter-twined.
Growing up on a farm helped lay the foundations for the tough physical aspects of rugby, which she first played at school, and securing a place at university in Dublin dovetailed well with joining the IRFU’s high-performance programme as an 18-year-old sevens prospect.
There are improved pathways for the emerging generation now but Boles was fairly fortunate coming through where and when she did, with the sevens structures have been established because of the abbreviated version of rugby’s recent inclusion as an Olympics sport.
Encouraged by the public funding consequently available, the IRFU prioritised the abbreviated form of the women’s game from early last decade, though the advent of those U18 interpros also gave Claire a chance to showcase her potential in XVs.
Captain Claire Boles on the charge for Wolfhounds during last season’s successful Celtic Challenge title defence
Geographically, Fermanagh was a great place for Boles to be growing up because it has proved a real hotbed for girls rugby to the extent that the Schools Cup final four years ago was a derby battle between Erne Integrated College and Enniskillen Royal Grammar!
Enniskillen RGS, which came about through the amalgamation of Boles’ alma mater Enniskillen Collegiate and Portora Royal, lost that decider but have won the girls Schools Cup in emphatic fashion these past two seasons.
Kathryn Dane and Boles herself have played at full international level with current Ulster skipper India Daley and young prop Sophie Barrett both knocking on the door including being travelling reserves for Ireland in the Six Nations in recent seasons.
Enniskillen RFC won the women’s Ulster Premiership last season and, given the impressive production line locally, it would be no surprise to see the club breaking through to All Ireland League level in the coming years.
Like newly-promoted Ennis, they have laid firm foundations in terms of girls rugby, and the Fermanagh set-up should be an inspiration for other ambitious provincial clubs to keep building their base by focusing on their youth structures.
Boles spoke about how she got into rugby initially in an interview for Ulster Rugby’s own website after being capped by the Irish sevens side while still a teenager, and credited her dad David for providing a nudge in the right direction.
“It all started with my dad, he thought I would make a good rugby player. I come from a farm and would have helped him weigh the sheep to go to the mart, and basically have to tackle them, so he thought rugby would be the perfect sport for me!” she revealed.
“I went to Enniskillen Collegiate Grammar School and they traditionally play tag rugby so I went to trials at around 13 years of age and got onto the school team. We won the Ulster Tag Rugby Cup four times, which was great to be a part of.
“I then joined my local club, Enniskillen RFC, who were starting an Under 15 tag team. I went down to train at the club and really enjoyed it. I developed more skills as time went on and my rugby started to progress. That team won a couple of provincial cups.
“So it started with school, where I fell in love with the game, and then joining a successful club team. Both gave me the platform I needed to progress. I had great coaches, the atmosphere was really enjoyable and my team-mates were like a big family.
“Rugby is such a fun game and really family-orientated – you will make friends for life. I’d encourage young girls to put in the work and just enjoy every minute. If you enjoy it and you’re passionate about it, there is no reason you can’t go far,” she enthused back then.
The Wolfhounds squad, including captain Claire Boles (with trophy), celebrate retaining their Celtic Challenge title
Boles first met the then national sevens supremo Anthony Eddy when Enniskillen Collegiate came second in an all-Ireland Schools blitz-type tournament and the Ulster U18 sevens captain was selected for the Irish sevens squad for that age group.
September 2016 was a landmark month for Claire as she helped Ulster win that inaugural Under 18 interpro title in XVs, started studying Chemical Engineering at UCD and was brought into the high-performance programme at Abbotstown.
That meant being in the gym at 6.00am, having classes until 4.00pm and then hitting the pitch thereafter but the hard work was worth it as Boles bagged a try on her Ireland sevens debut in France at the end of that season and earned an upgrade to the core squad.
Aged just 20, Boles followed fellow Fermanagh native Dane in winning her first cap for Ireland during the 2019 Six Nations, coming on for the legendary Claire Molloy in that victory over Scotland.
“I really enjoyed it and it was good to get the win on debut,” she said afterwards in an interview for the IRFU website in which the youthful flanker also discussed juggling being part of both Irish squads with her academic commitments.
“The XVs will have camp at the weekends and with sevens we’re in during the week. It’s just a bit of load management, how much you do. Sevens is more high speed and XVs a lot of endurance but your baseline fitness serves both.
“I played a bit of everything in school – netball, hockey, a bit of soccer. Everything really. I was always sporty. Rugby felt more natural. I just loved the game really and I’ve kept progressing through the ranks.
“The two (Irish) set-ups (sevens and XVs) are a bit different,” reflected Claire, whose Enniskillen clubmate Rob Baloucoune made his name in the abbreviated version of rugby before being capped by Ireland in XVs after impressing for Ulster.
A bad hamstring tear which required surgery ruled Boles out of the 2020 Six Nations and, although named in the following season’s squad, sevens commitments contributed to her not being capped again until April of this year.
Sevens seemed to be top priority, and in that 2019 interview for the IRFU website, Boles had spoken of some of the enriching experiences she’d enjoyed and far-flung locations visited through her rugby.
“I spent time last summer on the Gold Coast in Australia, playing sevens with Bond University. It was high-quality rugby. I’ve also always wanted to discover the world and you definitely get to do that with sevens. We’ve been in Colorado and Dubai this season.”
Ireland openside flanker Claire Boles drives forward against Spain in her first appearance at this year’s World Cup
While the international travel was an obvious bonus, Boles’ big focus was on rugby business, with getting to the Olympics being a major goal, but at one stage her prospects of making the cut for Paris 2024 very much hung in the balance – perhaps surprisingly so.
Rugby Players Ireland carried a great interview with Boles on their website back in March, between the Celtic Challenge and Six Nations, in which she spoke movingly of her father’s ongoing battle with Parkinson’s disease and how that has shaped her perspective.
Despite those struggles over the past 15 years, with the onset of Multiple Sclerosis, David Boles has constantly encouraged Claire to keep pushing forward with her academic career and ambitions in the sport he encouraged her to take up as a young girl.
It has undoubtedly been tough for him and all the family but, by all accounts, Claire’s father embodies the sort of tenacity, courage, resilience and determination to keep tackling life’s challenges that are also her hallmarks in rugby and beyond.
“It’s always hard to leave home because I know that, when I return, things will have changed again. But we don’t let it hold us back. Both my parents insisted I go to Dublin to follow my dreams, and when it came to the rugby, Dad believed in me before anyone else.
“Hope will mean different things to different people, but I think it’s always important to have some in your life. It’s what has kept us going,” reflected Claire, a person of faith but also someone at a practical level who keeps plugging away with dogged determination.
Despite possessing impressive pace and a great engine, the mobile, indomitable Boles is a backrow workhorse who happily does the dirty jobs rather than being a spectacular player, and her contribution could readily be overlooked.
Proud Fermanagh native Claire Boles won Women’s Player of the Year at last season’s Ulster Rugby Awards
The circus surrounding high-profile flop Vikki Wall, an ill-fated expensive experiment parachuted in, irked those of us on the outside but must have been especially galling for proven players like Boles who had given such commitment to the programme over the years.
Thankfully, sense prevailed and the ultimately unselectable Wall wasn’t taken to the Olympics just to spare establishment embarrassment, but Boles still faced an anxious wait to see if she would make it to Paris having slipped down the pecking order a little.
“(The Olympics) almost didn’t happen (for me). There was a lot of change last year. New players came in and I found myself squeezed out of contention for a while. I missed out on a few crucial (World Series) legs and Six Nations selection didn’t go my way either.”
With self-doubt understandably beginning to niggle a bit, Boles sought to tap into the IRFU’s sports psychology service, something she’d ‘never considered before’, and that proved very beneficial with mental fitness now factored into her training regime.
“I was incredibly focused. I’ve described it like having a flower in my hand and doing everything in my power to protect it. No matter what was going on around me, I was able to block it out and focus on whatever I needed to do,” she explained in the RPI interview.
Claire Boles with her proud parents in Northampton after her impressive World Cup debut against Spain
It was almost mind over matter as she had to deal with the setback of an ill-timed sternum injury but Boles was selected as part of Team Ireland, albeit as a travelling reserve for the women’s rugby sevens.
She was one of only two Ulsterwomen involved in that historic Olympics campaign along with the since-retired new mum Ashleigh Baxter, something of a mentor for her and also a dual international who featured in two World Cups in the XVs form of the sport.
“I had to dig really deep, but I think that sort of mentality has always been in me. If there was even the slightest chance, I was all in. A glimmer of hope was all I needed. It was bitter-sweet though, in that I’d made up ground to be going, but wasn’t in the 12.”
However, those unfortunate injuries to Mulhall and Parsons opened the door for the deserving Boles and she marked her Olympics bow by scoring a try as a replacement against Great Britain as Ireland lost the seventh-place play-off.
“Even though we were out of medal contention by the time I got to play, the experience was still incredibly special. I felt so proud running out at the Stade de France. But honestly, what will stay with me most from Paris 2024 is the unwavering support of my team-mates.
“I think they were genuinely thrilled to see me get my opportunity. Hearing players I’ve looked up to for so long say that seeing me out there was one of their highlights of the Games – that was pretty amazing.
“Moments like that make all the struggles and sacrifices feel completely worth it,” declared the homely, likeable Boles, who has had plenty of further experiences to savour since making those special Paris Olympics memories.
First came the Celtic Challenge, being given the honour of the Wolfhounds captaincy, then leading by example throughout a successful campaign and even getting some relatively rare recognition for her personal performances during the run-in.
It was unsurprising to see the relentless, uncompromising Boles topping the Celtic Challenge tackle charts but she also scored a first half hat-trick in the 48-17 away win over perceived threats Gwalia Lightning in the penultimate round.
Claire’s third try came just after she had landed heavily as a result of being flipped in the air at a lineout, a reckless challenge which saw the culprit sinbinned, and she followed up her Player of the Match performance with another as Wolfhounds were crowned champions.
Claire Boles reflecting her love of family and farming in her choice for the World Cup squad’s portraits photoshoot
But the title win wouldn’t have happened without Boles, her predecessor Molly Boyne and deputy Dalton crucially holding Gwalia up over the Wolfhounds line right at the death in Cork a few weeks earlier when a try would have cost Alcorn’s side their Celtic crown.
Captain Claire was pleased that Wolfhounds secured silverware on the back of three months’ hard work and delighted that the trophy was won on home soil at Energia Park, enabling the families of players to be present to share in their triumph.
Speaking to the Ulster Rugby website ahead of that final fixture with Edinburgh, Boles reflected on her hat-trick against Gwalia the previous weekend but perhaps also had that try-saving intervention against the same opponents previously in mind when replying.
“I don’t really score many hat-tricks as a forward! It was nice as it helped give the team a good platform. We needed to win with a bonus-point or else everything would have been up in the air. But I’d rather have a turnover on my own line than a try to be honest!” she said.
Boles had featured some for Wolfhounds the previous season, when they won their first Celtic Challenge title, but this time it was the perfect shop window to stake her Ireland selection claims for the Six Nations and beyond.
“It’s been really beneficial to play with the girls consistently. It bridges that gap between club rugby and international level. With the structure of our sessions, it gives players good preparation for heading into international camp,” she told the Ulster Rugby website.
That was something Claire reflected upon further when she spoke to Local Women Sport just before the World Cup, saying: “It was great getting 10 straight games of XVs having been mostly sevens over recently years, and also to play with so many of the Irish squad.
“The Celtic Challenge had gone well for me, but the back row is such a competitive area for Ireland that there’s no guarantee of game-time so it was good to get on the pitch against Wales and Scotland during the Championship.”
She said there had been no concern about being injured after the Six Nations jeopardising her World Cup prospects and told me that inclusion in the squad for England 2025 felt quite different to her travelling reserve status for the Paris Olympics.
The IRFU did a brilliant and internationally-acclaimed squad reveal video and Boles was actually the first face and name to feature as the forwards were unveiled before the backs and presented in alphabetical order.
“It was just by chance that I was first up. The video was a lovely touch, we only saw it this week ourselves. It was amazing seeing the photos of our younger selves and who could have thought where we’d end up.”
International Claire Boles has been in prolific try-scoring form for Railway Union in this season’s All Ireland League
With only Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald of Ireland’s squad of 32 having been to a World Cup previously, the big event experience of Paris Olympians Stacey Flood, Amee-Leigh Costigan, Parsons, Eve Higgins, Emily Lane and Boles seemed an obvious bonus.
Claire agreed that the Olympic contingent’s experience of a huge event and playing in front of big crowds in large stadiums could be beneficial in helping prepare the squad for how aspects of the World Cup campaign might impact them.
Thanks to Boles, Fermanagh was among 18 counties represented in Bemand’s squad, and as someone rightly proud of her Erne roots, Claire also expressed gratitude for the “many messages from people back home saying they’re delighted for me.”
Boles is an elite professional sportswoman, who also has a Masters in Biopharmaceutical Engineering from UCD and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals.
However, Claire shares a farming background with Ireland skipper Edel McMahon, who she understudied at openside flanker at the World Cup, and both these strikingly grounded, no-nonsense women relish returning to rural life whenever they get the chance.
“In my free time, I find it relaxing to be back on the farm and doing plain chores to be honest. Things like feeding the cattle or mucking out in the stables, you don’t really think of anything else when you’re doing those,” Boles insisted in her RPI interview.
A few months later, the World Cup squad members were asked to pose for a portrait with someone or something important to them, with Claire’s choice prompting me to joke that she must be more faithful to farming than McMahon.
While Edel was accompanied by her beloved dog Daisy, Boles brought a painting of one of the cows from the family farm which she and her siblings had commissioned for their parents’ 30th wedding anniversary!
“Doing those portraits was enjoyable, everyone has their own personality and story. We didn’t really ask each other what we were bringing in and there was such a range across the squad. It was a great idea and we had a lot of fun,” she enthused.
Claire Boles, Emily Lane (centre) and Nancy McGillivray sing Ireland’s Call in front of a capacity crowd in Brighton
Another thing that Boles and McMahon have in common is a real willingness to repeatedly put their body on the line for their team and take whatever knocks come their way, an important quality in anyone wearing the number seven jersey.
In that Rugby Players Ireland feature, Claire attributed her admirable bravery to a desire to make the most of her physical capabilities in recognition that others such as her father face cruel limits and don’t have the freedom to do what they want anymore.
“I went to an all-girls school, so when I got a bruise here or there playing rugby for the school team, it never really bothered me. Growing up on a farm, I’d never shied away from the physical stuff there either.
“But not everyone is the same. Plenty of people hate running, plenty of people moan if something requires a little extra effort. I find it amazing how much people can lack in appreciation for their physical capabilities.
“The ability to get up and do the first thing that comes to mind is such a blessing. The power of the body is amazing. It’s why I love what I do because I will probably never be much fitter in my life than I am now. I don’t take that for granted.
“It’s reinforced anytime I go home and see how Dad faces every step with a quiet determination. He never lets his reality define him, and that resilience inspires me. Sometimes I like to think that I carry a bit of hope for him in return,” she mused.
There can have been no prouder parent than David Boles, being able to be in Northampton to see Claire line out for her World Cup debut against Spain. An ambassador for Parkinson’s Ireland along with everything else, she did the green jersey justice that day.
Boles will hope Ireland’s historic final fixture against Scotland in next spring’s Six Nations, 11 days after she turns 28, is a case of third time lucky for her regarding getting to play in the Aviva Stadium having missed Railway Union’s AIL finals there in both the past two seasons.
McMahon’s absence will reduce competition for the Ireland No 7 jersey but King is due back from injury, Wafer can play openside and a previously capped player like this season’s Munster interpro title-winning skipper Maeve Og O’Leary will want to get back in the mix.
Another impactful Celtic Challenge campaign with Wolfhounds should boost Boles’ chances of adding to her eight caps come the Six Nations and the early derby battle against Clovers this Saturday could feel like an Irish trial of sorts.
Boles lined out in her recent club position of No 8 in the opening game against Edinburgh, with O’Leary at openside, as Wolfhounds won 34-7 with Claire’s fellow Fermanagh forwards Barrett and Daley scoring three tries between them in a comprehensive victory.
Ulster’s Claire Boles in her official kit at the Paris Olympics where she represented Team Ireland in rugby sevens
Ireland replacement Claire Boles runs at Scotland during the final fixture of this year’s Six Nations in Edinburgh
Ulsterwoman Claire Boles (centre) won her first Ireland cap for six years against Wales in the 2025 Six Nations
Lisbellaw woman Claire Boles hard at work in the gym during Ireland’s World Cup campaign earlier this year
Claire Boles training with Ireland at Ravenhill ahead of August’s World Cup warm-up match against Canada
Rugby star Claire Boles has represented Ireland at the Olympics and a World Cup in consecutive summers
Captain Claire Boles is tackled during February’s narrow win for Wolfhounds against Gwalia Lightning in Cork
Captain Claire Boles started all 10 matches for Wolfhounds during last season’s Celtic Challenge campaign
