How Ireland let one of England’s best rugby talents slip through their fingers

What could have been....

It goes without saying that he is dual-qualified for both England and Ireland.

In his own words: “My mum’s Irish, but that’s a long time away, before I have got to think about anything like that."

His mother was born in Enniskillen and lived in Co Down.

Donoghue himself was born in Salisbury and began playing rugby with Abingdon RFC, before training camps with Bath came in the following years.

He took advantage of his Irish roots, representing IQ Rugby at a tournament in Limerick back in 2019, against underage sides from the four provinces.

So why hasn't made his name on these shores?

In short, he was a late bloomer. Despite also participating at an England U18s camp, he didn't get any underage international honours.

Had the scouts in Limerick known what he was to turn out to be, he would have been snapped up by a provincial academy.

While coming up through the Bath academy, he honed his skills in the fourth-tier of English rugby, on loan at Dings Crusaders.

On his development at the National 2 side as a maverick-style No 10, he said: “My last year there was massive in terms of my development, not only in terms of playing men’s rugby and realising on a  Sunday morning how sore your body feels, but also in terms of getting valuable touches, valuable experiences.

“There were times when I was trying to run it out of my own 22, and Stean (Williams), the DoR, was going grey from what I was up to. But he stuck with me, he showed me confidence.

“The whole culture they had there was really fantastic. In the two years I had there, they made me feel so welcome, and obviously we went and won National 2 and got promotion, and that was an amazing thing to be a part of, and has driven me to feel that success.

“I want to push on with that here, like we have done with the cup, and hopefully with more to come.”

He has got game time in the Premiership Rugby Cup since 2021, and after finding himself fourth in Bath's pecking order, there was suddenly an opening with injuries to Orlando Bailey and Sam Harris.

Donoghue took advantage of starts at fullback in the PRC, getting his first Premiership start against Newcastle, scoring a worldie of a try, and eventually ended up starting at out-half in their final win over Exeter in March.

He was then on the bench for his side's Challenge Cup final win over Lyon last month, and is on the bench behind Finn Russell for tomorrow's Premiership semi-final against Bristol.

England head coach Steve Borthwick has name checked the player, and although he did not make his training squad for their summer tour, it is not the final selection.