Remarkable rise of Ciaran Donoghue from Bath fourth choice to England bolter
If the rise of Ciaran Donoghue has surprised you, do not fret. You are not alone.
The 22-year-old himself concedes that it has been a 'surreal' year or so. Only last season, he was starring for Dings Crusaders in the fourth tier. A fortnight ago, Steve Borthwick name-checked him as a potential England fly-half on the back of his impressive emergence with Bath.
Donoghue is currently living with his parents, Chris and Suzi, in the Somerset village of Pilton, and appears to have an ideal personality to equip him on this surge to prominence. His easy-going demeanour is immediately obvious and reminds Lee Blackett, the Bath attack coach, of Finn Russell.
'Coming through the academy, [coach] Craig Lilley always said that one of the things he liked most was my ability to make a mistake, shrug it off and not be afraid to try it again if it was on,' Donoghue explains.
'It wasn't about being stupid and trying things for the sake of it, it was about being brave and backing yourself with whatever needs to be executed when the opportunity arises.'
A capacity to roll with the punches is crucial at senior level, particularly in a pivotal position. Donoghue's story has its quirks. Born in Salisbury, he took up rugby union at Abingdon RFC before joining Millfield School for Year 4. There were training camps with Somerset and Bath but, thanks to the roots of his mother, who was born in Enniskillen and lived on Strangford Lough in Co Down, further honours came through the Irish Exiles age-group programme.
Donoghue travelled to Limerick in August 2019 for an under-18 interprovincial tournament and represented 'IQ Rugby' against teams from Leinster, Ulster and Munster. Memories of an England Under-18 get-together at Clifton RFC are hazy. 'It was very much a blur,' Donoghue says. 'I remember we had to wear masks because we were in Covid, but I think I only did the morning and didn't get to the afternoon.'
'Pace of Australian game blew me away'
He made a pair of Premiership Cup cameos for Bath, totalling 20 minutes, across two seasons and Donoghue stayed under the radar with more travel. In 2023, he spent an enjoyable three months with Sydney University Colts. 'It was a bit of a shock,' he says.
'I was going from playing men's rugby here in the national leagues, which is a bit slower and more physical, to a pure running game. It blew me away with the pace of it, but playing in the heat was nice and it was an amazing experience.'
Three more outings as a Premiership Cup replacement began the 2023-24 campaign, but Donoghue was still behind Russell, Orlando Bailey and Sam Harris. With Blackett's encouragement, he brought his displays for Dings to the attention of Bath head coach Johann van Graan.
'Every Monday and Tuesday, I would go through my clips from Dings games with either Lee or Ryan Davis,' Donoghue adds. 'Towards the end of the season, Lee suggested I present them to Johann. We collected clips that I thought were my best ones to show exactly what I'd been doing that season.
'He'd watched the clips anyway, but it was to get his feedback on what he liked and what he wanted me to improve on.'
After Donoghue was granted chances in pre-season friendlies, he picked up Premiership Cup game-time at full-back. Then, in February, Harris suffered a serious knee injury and Bailey hurt his hamstring. Donoghue would have his very first competitive start at fly-half for Bath in the Premiership Cup quarter-final against Harlequins.
'I didn't think too much about it,' he says. 'I definitely didn't think 'you have to prove yourself here'. With it being a knockout game, it was just about winning. Lee had said: 'Yes, it's a knockout game but make sure you get yourself on the ball, try to control things and move the defence around'.
'It might have been cagey [in a knockout game], but he wanted us to play the rugby that had got us there and not to let it faze me. I feel like I've got on the ball more since that, which has helped me play better as well as the team.'
Having steered Bath to the first trophy of their season with further wins over Newcastle Falcons and Exeter Chiefs, Donoghue kept the reins for a trip to Pau in the Challenge Cup round of 16. He kicked 14 points, earning a fetching green beret embroidered with 'Homme du match' that is on the mantelpiece in Pilton.
Donoghue is a brave defender with sound tackling technique, though a slippery running game looks to be his greatest asset. At the end of April, less than two minutes into his Premiership debut, he scythed Newcastle for a fine solo try.
100 seconds into his Premiership debut - Ciaran Donoghue does this 😮 @BathRugby take the early lead against Newcastle. #GallagherPrem | #BATvNEW pic.twitter.com/rMz7ywjubO
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 26, 2025
'That was pretty cool,' Donoghue says. 'It was my first Premiership game, so I was just thinking about doing the basics well and a gap opened up in the second minute. Lee had said that if space had opened up in front of me, not to be afraid to go through it because killing a team through the middle makes it a lot harder for a team to recover than if you get around them on the edge.
'With my running game, it's about not overdoing it but taking those opportunities if they open up. Later in the game, it can potentially pull in extra defenders and create more space for others. I want to make sure that I'm running for the right reasons rather than for the sake of it.'
Regular references to Blackett are an endorsement and Donoghue is grateful for the guidance.
'Lee's been really important for me and my development,' he says. 'Something he does really well with me and the whole squad is to keep messages clear. You can sometimes get caught up in putting too much detail on everything or putting too much shape and organising too much. He gives us the clear message to play what is in front of us. If the defence is sitting off, drive at them. If they have lots of defenders in a certain space, change direction. That sort of thing.
'In meetings, he's not giving too many messages. The simpler the plan is for the team, the easier it is for me to firstly follow that plan and secondly to play what is in front of us. You can get bogged down in too much detail and think about too many different scenarios that can happen.'
Russell and Quade Cooper, the former Australia playmaker, are volunteered as two role models. Way before the Scotland lynchpin signed for Bath, Donoghue revered Russell's 'ability to pull something magical out of a hat when very few people would even see that it was on'. As for Cooper, it was a capacity to look calm while beating opponents one-on-one and unfurling 'all the tricks'.
'I wasn't the biggest or the strongest so it was never about running over the top of people or a power game,' Donoghue says.
It might seem hasty for this rookie to be in the England shake-up, but Borthwick was effusive about his 'exceptional pace' and 'positional flexibility'. Blackett is being seconded from Bath for the tour of Argentina and United States, too, which will surely aid Donoghue's cause.
There is also the fact that fly-half is curiously open. Fin Smith and Marcus Smith will be on the British and Irish Lions tour. George Ford is around, yet the pecking order is uncertain below that. Charlie Atkinson has worn 10 in the last two England A fixtures. He may be talented and tough, but has only started two Premiership matches at fly-half this season.
Donoghue is making a happy habit of seizing opportunities. His versatility suits Bath's trusted strategy of deploying six forwards on the bench.
As a fascinating semi-final against Bristol Bears approaches, Van Graan's men are zeroing in on the Premiership as the third leg of a treble and their overarching priority.
'We don't have to worry about the Prem Cup or Europe anymore,' Donoghue says. 'When you win a trophy, it brings the whole club together. We want to make it so that we never take that for granted and we don't forget how it feels. It's special for the playing group, the staff, the fans, everyone.'
The term 'breakthrough' sounds too sedate for the ride that Donoghue has been on this year. But any exciting twists to come, you sense, he will take in his stride.
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