List of Ireland national rugby union team records explained

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in international rugby union and plays in the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup.

Thomas Gisborne Gordon, who played for Ireland between 1877–78, is the only one handed player to have competed in international rugby of either code.^[1]

Career

Most caps

Ten current or retired members of the Ireland team have earned 100 or more test caps. Ireland's all-time caps leader is Brian O'Driscoll with 133. The active player with the most caps is Cian Healy with 131 caps, followed by Conor Murray with 118 caps.^[2]

These figures do not include caps for the Lions. When those are included, O'Driscoll has 141 international caps, O'Gara has 130, and Conor Murray has 127, Sexton has 124 caps.^[3]

	Player	Career Span	Caps	Tries	Pts
1	Brian O'Driscoll	1999–2014	133	46	245
2	Cian Healy	2009–	131	12	60
3		2000–2013	128	16	1083
4		2005–2019	124	12	60
5	Conor Murray	2011–	118	18	115
		2009–2023	118	18	1108
7		2002–2015	108	8	40
8	Peter O'Mahony	2012–	107	5	25
9		2000–2011	105	2	10
10		2008–2023	101	36	180

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 13 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries

Ireland's record try scorer is Brian O'Driscoll, who notched 46 career tries,^[4] which ranks him eighth in international tries.

	Player	Career Span	Tries	Caps	Ave.
1		1999–2014	46	133	0.35
2		2008–2023	36	101
3		2004–2017	30	69	0.43
4		1997–2007	29	62	0.47
5		2000–2009	21	65	0.32
6		1998–2008	19	82	0.23
	Jacob Stockdale	2017–	19	37
8		2000–2011	18	72	0.25
	Conor Murray	2011–	18	118	0.15
		2009–2023	18	118	0.15

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 13 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Most points

Johnny Sexton holds the Ireland record for test points with 1,101,^[5] placing him fourth all-time in international rugby union.Johnny Sexton is the highest points scorers in the Six Nations with 566 points, followed by Ronan O'Gara with 557.^{[6] [7]}

	Player	Career span	Points	Caps	Tries	Con.	Pen.	DG	Ave.
1		2009–2023	1,108	118	18	182	214	4
2			1,083	128	16	176	202	15
3		1996–2005	560	72	6	88	110	8
4		1982–1991	308	43	6	40	62	6
5		1993–1999	296	35	0	43	68	2
6		1999–2014	245	133	46	0	0	5
7		1976–1984	217	22	1	15	54	7
8		2013–2017	195	25	2	46	30	1
9		2008–2023	180	101	36	0	0	0
10		2016–2022	164	37	2	56	14	0

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Most matches as captain

Brian O'Driscoll is third on the all-time list for test matches as captain. He has captained Ireland 83 times and the Lions once.^[8]

	Player	width= 90	Span	Captaincies	width=55	Caps	width=55	Wins	width=60	Win %
1		2002–2012	83	133	52	%
2		2009–2019	38	124	24	%
3		1996–2003	36	58	15	%
4		2019–2023	30	118	25	%
5		2004–2015	28	108	18	%
6		1963–1973	24	54	16	%
7		1982–1986	19	25	9	%
8		1986–1990	17	52	8	%
		1979–1981	17	61	5	%
10		1992–1995	15	40	5	%
		1924–1927	15	30	11	%
		1947–1952	15	25	10	%

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^{[2] [9]}

Single match

Most points in a match

	Player		Pts	Tries	Con	Pen	DG	Result	Opposition	Date
1			32	2	2	5	1	40–14		20 June 2003
2			30	0	6	6	0	60–13		4 March 2000
3			26	1	3	5	0	36–6		16 February 2003
			26	1	6	3	0	61–6		30 August 2003
			26	1	6	3	0	61–17		26 November 2006
6			24	0	0	8	0	29–37		4 January 1997
			24	0	0	7	1	24–28		20 October 1999
			24	2	7	0	0	82–8		9 September 2023
9			23	0	4	5	0	55–11		6 October 1991
			23	0	10	1	0	78–9		11 November 2000

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Most tries in a match

Tries	Player	Position	Result	Opposition	Date
4			55–11		6 October 1991
			53–8		2 October 1999
			61–6		30 August 2003
	Rónan Kelleher		71–10		10 July 2021
3	(Several players tied)

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Player age

Youngest players

	Player	Age	DOB	Debut	Opposition
1		17 years 157 days	3 October 1906	8 March 1924
2			26 June 1944	10 February 1962
3		18 years 13 days	2 February 1878	15 February 1896
4		18 years 57 days	5 October 1870	1 December 1888	N.Z. Natives
5		18 years 68 days	1 January 1916	10 March 1934
6		18 years 103 days	22 December 1901	3 April 1920
7		18 years 131 days	9 September 1939	18 January 1958
8		18 years 189 days	1 September 1888	9 March 1907
9		18 years 192 days	4 August 1891	12 February 1910
10		18 years 218 days	8 August 1895	14 March 1914

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Oldest players

	Player	Age	DOB	Last Match	Opposition
1		38 years 92 days	11 July 1985	14 October 2023
2		37 years 277 days	2 November 1973	6 August 2011
3		37 years 65 days	15 August 1982	19 October 2019
4		36 years 280 days	7 October 1987	13 July 2024
5		36 years 195 days	3 December 1942	16 June 1979
6		36 years 187 days	21 December 1979	25 June 2016
7		36 years 175 days	14 December 1950	7 June 1987
8		36 years 15 days	22 March 1966	6 April 2002
9		35 years 356 days	20 October 1979	12 October 2015
10		35 years 354 days	7 March 1977	24 February 2013

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 13 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Team margins

Biggest winning margin

Margin	Date	Game	Ground
80	10 June 2000	3–83	Singer Family Park, Manchester, New Hampshire, US
74	9 September 2023	82–8	Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
70	14 November 1998	70–0	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
69	11 November 2000	78–9	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
61	10 July 2021	71–10	Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
60	1 November 1986	60–0	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
57	19 October 2003	64–7	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia
55	6 November 2021	60–5	Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
	8 November 2008	55–0	Thomond Park, Limerick, Republic of Ireland
	30 August 2003	61–6	Thomond Park, Limerick, Republic of Ireland

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Biggest losing margin

Margin	Date	Game	Ground
60	23 June 2012	60–0	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand
53	6 June 1992	59–6	Athletic Park, Wellington, New Zealand
48	15 November 1997	15–63	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
42	24 August 2019	57–15	Twickenham, London, England
40	15 February 1997	6–46	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
39	6 April 2002	44–5	Stade de France, Paris, France
38	12 June 2010	66–28	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth, New Zealand
	12 November 2005	7–45	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
	30 November 1912	0–38	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
36	30 March 2003	6–42	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Last updated: South Africa vs Ireland, 6 July 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.^[2]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Thomas Gordon Profile. espnscrum.com. 30 September 2019. 1 February 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140201192209/http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/player/416.html. live.
2. Web site: Statistics . Irish Rugby . 5 November 2022 . 14 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314232917/https://www.irishrugby.ie/ireland/men/statistics/ . live .
3. Web site: International Matches Record List. stats.espnscrum.com. 30 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20120402010853/http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1%3Bfilter%3Dadvanced%3Borderby%3Dmatches%3Btemplate%3Dresults%3Btype%3Dplayer. 2 April 2012. dead.
4. Web site: Ireland Squad Profiles : Irish Rugby . Irishrugby.ie . 23 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141112140242/http://www.irishrugby.ie/rugby/fixturesandresults/squads_ireland.php?player=4038&includeref=dynamic . 12 November 2014 . dead .
5. Web site: ESPNScrum Stasguru Overall Points Record . 23 September 2019 . espnscrum.com . 30 September 2019 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110811234407/http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1%3Bfilter%3Dadvanced%3Borderby%3Dpoints%3Btemplate%3Dresults%3Btype%3Dplayer . 11 August 2011.
6. Web site: IRELAND . Six Nations Rugby . 18 March 2023 . 14 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314184308/https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/team/ireland/#statistics . live .
7. Web site: Six Nations: Total Points Scored . stats.espnscrum.com . 23 September 2019. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318233804/http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1%3Borderby%3Dpoints%3Btemplate%3Dresults%3Btrophy%3D2%3Btype%3Dplayer . 18 March 2012 .
8. Web site: Statsguru / Player analysis / Brian O'Driscoll / Test matches (filter: as captain) . Scrum.com . 30 September 2019 . 30 April 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240430015237/https://www.espn.com/rugby/?captain=1;class=1;template=results;type=player;view=match . live .
9. Web site: Poll: Who is the greatest Irish rugby captain of all time? . JOE . 16 March 2023 . 17 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230317032015/https://www.joe.ie/sport/poll-who-is-the-greatest-irish-rugby-captain-of-all-time-403837 . live .