The Bolter
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By Scott MacLean
In the age of professional rugby, the term “bolter” – meaning a wholly unforeseen “bolt from the blue” selection suffers from misuse; we’re usually accustomed to seeing a player on TV long before the get the call into the All Blacks.
That was until yesterday, when had the first genuine bolter in quite some time. Even when rumours of his name starting swirling yesterday afternoon I still wondered if it was all a bit of a wind up, until NZR Chair Dame Patsy Reddy (or “DPR” as we call her at Sportsfreak Towers) followed up “Mark Telea, Blues and North Harbour” with “Pasilio Tosi, Hurricanes and Bay of Plenty”. Something that would have sent people scrambling to the internet where they would have found he has perhaps the smallest Wikipedia page of anyone named to the AB’s in recent times.
But who is he?
Tosi was born and raised in Levin, where he played for Horowhenua College before relocating to Rotorua where he spent three years as part of Rotorua Boys High’s 1st XV (and now making him an instant favourite of Sportsfreak’s Raukura alum Benji “Bopman” Crossley). There he was in the squad that won the National title in 2015, beating Scots College 35-27 in the final, but didn’t play that owing on the number of “new to school” players permitted.
Leaving school, he headed south – Deep South – to join Southland’s academy and while there and playing for the Marist club he made the change that would alter his career, switching from No8 to prop, and crucially, learning to play both sides. After a dalliance with the ill-fated Global Rapid Rugby brought him to the attention of then-Steamers coach Clayton McMillan he signed with Bay of Plenty for the NPC.
If one game could make someone, he had it in the 2021 NPC when Wellington visited Rotorua. Tosi scored a try that day, but along with powerful scrummaging he repeatedly turned several of the visiting players into speedbumps as he rampaged across the International Stadium. The Hurricanes liked what they saw and brought him to Wellington.
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The WRFU operates a system for allowing players not signed to the Wellington NPC side to play in its Premier club competition if released by the franchise. Wellington players turn out for their home club, while Manawatu and Hawkes Bay players usually go back to theirs. For someone like Tosi, they’re allocated and, in his case, it was to the Paremata-Plimmerton club in the north of Porirua. A club that had stepped up to the Premier ranks in 2015, it had gone winless the season before and its previous best return had been five wins. But they’d just appointed a new coach in former World U19 Player of the Year Gerard Fasavalu, who’s own promising career had been derailed by injuries, and who had taken the other Porirua-based club – Norths – to the provinces Premier crown, the Jubilee Cup. It was, and still is, my club as well.
I can still remember the first time seeing him at an early preseason training session, and asking one of the old timers “Who’s That?”. “Oh, he’s our Hurricane” was the reply and I had to hastily consult the squad online to even get his name. Very much a development player, Tosi only made four appearances for the Hurricanes that season, but every chance he could he was playing for Pare-Plim, notching eight appearances and firmly establishing himself as a club favourite as they finished tenth, their best ever. The split was much the same in 2023; six games for the Canes and eight for Pare-Plim as the former easybeats won the round-robin and the Swindale Shield, before losing out in the championship decider.
But 2024 was where he really shined, announcing himself with the golden-point winner against the Rebels and then finishing the season as the starting tighthead when Tyrell Lomax, now his international teammate, was hobbled by injury. But still he would be down supporting his grassroots teammates on a Saturday afternoon when he could or watching whatever livestream existed, even though he didn’t pull on the jersey this season.
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If you’ve ever seen the clips from inside the Hurricanes camp, or even his post-selection interview on Monday night’s TV News where he told the story of dealing with his two young children when Scott Robertson called him, you’ll have an insight to the time of person he his. He’s genuine, authentic, and hilarious, and with his huge 130kg+ build, that mop of frizzy hair and the massive megawatt smile he’s the definition of “gentle giant”. I just hope that this level of fame and celebrity – and the various media people of NZR and the Players Association – don’t change him; we need more All Blacks as engaging as he is, not less.
With Lomax and Fletcher Newell the established tightheads ahead of him it would seem unlikely he’ll get a run against England, but the match against Fiji in San Diego bodes as the place he’ll debut.
And if he does, I’ll certainly be watching.
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