List of Ireland national rugby union team records

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.

• Of the players known to have earned 80 or more Test caps, ten are current or retired members of the Ireland team. Four of these players have also crossed the 100-cap mark for Ireland. Ireland's all-time caps leader is Brian O'Driscoll with 133. The second most-capped player is Ronan O'Gara with 128. Ireland's third most capped player is Paul O'Connell, with 108. John Hayes, won 105 caps before retiring from rugby in December 2011. Following him is Peter Stringer, who has won 98 caps. Donncha O'Callaghan won 94 caps in his Ireland career, Malcolm O'Kelly won 92 caps. Rory Best currently has 90. Gordon D'Arcy and Girvan Dempsey both won 82 caps.
• These figures do not include caps for the Lions. When those are included, O'Driscoll has a total of 142 international caps. O'Gara has 130, O'Connell has 113, John Hayes has 107 and O'Callaghan has 98.
• O'Gara holds the Ireland record for Test points with 1,083, placing him fourth all-time in international rugby union and making him one of only five players to have reached the 1,000 points mark. Jonathan Sexton (574), David Humphreys (560), Michael Kiernan (308) and Eric Elwood (296) complete the top 5 Irish points scorers.
• O'Gara is also the highest points scorer in the Six Nations with 557 points. Jonny Wilkinson is second with 546, and Stephen Jones is third with 467.
• Ireland's record try scorer is O'Driscoll, who has 46 tries in his 133 appearances. Tommy Bowe (30), Denis Hickie (29), Shane Horgan (21) and Girvan Dempsey (19) complete the top 5 Irish try scorers.
• O'Driscoll is also second on the all-time list for Test matches as captain. He has captained Ireland 83 times and the Lions once.
• Keith Wood currently holds the world rugby union record for most International Test tries scored by a hooker, which is 15.
• 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.

Career

Most caps

#	Player	Career Span	Caps	Tries	Pts
1.	Brian O'Driscoll	1999–14	133	46	245
2.	Ronan O'Gara	2000–13	128	16	1083
3.	Paul O'Connell	2002–15	108	8	40
4.	John Hayes	2000–11	105	2	10
5.	Peter Stringer	2000–11	98	6	30
6.	Donncha O'Callaghan	2003–13	94	1	5
=	Rory Best	2005–	94	8	40
8.	Malcolm O'Kelly	1997–2009	92	8	40
9.	Jamie Heaslip	2006-	85	12	60
10.	Girvan Dempsey	1998–2008	82	19	95
=	Gordon D'Arcy	1999–2015	82	7	35

Last updated: Ireland v Scotland, 19 March 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries

#	Player	Career Span	Tries	Caps	Ave.
1.	Brian O'Driscoll	1999–2014	46	133	0.38
2.	Tommy Bowe	2004–	30	67	0.44
3.	Denis Hickie	1997–2007	29	62	0.47
4.	Shane Horgan	2000–09	21	65	0.32
5.	Girvan Dempsey	1998–2008	19	82	0.23
6.	Geordan Murphy	2000–11	18	72	0.25
7.	Keith Earls	2008-	17	50	0.34
=	Brendan Mullin	1984–95	17	55	0.31
=	Andrew Trimble	2005-	17	63	0.27
10.	Ronan O'Gara	2000–13	16	128	0.13

Last updated: Ireland v Scotland, 19 March 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most points

#	Player	Career Span	Points	Caps	Tries	Con.	Pen.	DG	Ave.
1.	Ronan O'Gara	2000–13	1083	128	16	176	202	15	8.67
2.	Jonathan Sexton	2009-	574	55	9	68	129	2	10.44
3.	David Humphreys	1996–2005	560	72	6	88	110	8	7.78
4.	Michael Kiernan	1982–91	308	43	6	40	62	6	7.16
5.	Eric Elwood	1993–99	296	35	0	43	68	2	7.38
6.	Brian O'Driscoll	1999–2014	245	133	46	0	0	5	2.00
7.	Ollie Campbell	1976–84	217	22	1	15	54	7	9.86
8.	Tom Kiernan	1960–73	158	54	2	26	31	2	2.93
9.	Tommy Bowe	2004–	150	67	30	0	0	0	2.24
10.	Denis Hickie	1997–2007	145	62	29	0	0	0	2.34

Last updated: Ireland v Scotland, 19 March 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most matches as captain

#	Player	Span	Captaincies	Total caps	Win %
1.	Brian O'Driscoll	2002–12	83	131	62.65%
2.	Keith Wood	1996–2003	36	58	41.67%
3.	Paul O'Connell	2004–15	28	108	62.50%
4.	Tom Kiernan	1963–73	24	54	58.33%
5.	Ciaran Fitzgerald	1982–86	19	25	47.37%
6.	Donal Lenihan	1986–90	17	52	47.05%
	Fergus Slattery	1979–81	17	61	29.41%
7.	Michael Bradley	1999–2003	15	40	33.33%
	William Crawford	1924–27	15	30	66.67%
	Karl Mullen	1961–66	15	25	66.67%

Last updated: Ireland v France, 11 October 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Single match

Most points in a match

#	Player	Position	Pts	Tries	Con.	Pen.	DG	Result	Opposition	Date
1.	Ronan O'Gara	Fly-half	32	2	2	5	1	40–14	Samoa	20 June 2003
2.	Ronan O'Gara	Fly-half	30	0	6	6	0	60–13	Italy	4 March 2000
3.	David Humphreys	Fly-half	26	1	3	5	0	36–6	Scotland	16 February 2003
	David Humphreys	Fly-half	26	1	6	3	0	61–6	Italy	30 August 2003
	Paddy Wallace	Fly-half	26	1	6	3	0	61–17	Pacific Islanders	26 November 2006
6.	Paul Burke	Fly-half	24	0	0	8	0	29–37	Italy	4 January 1997
	David Humphreys	Fly-half	24	0	0	7	1	24–28	Argentina	20 October 1999
8.	Ralph Keyes	Fly-half	23	0	4	5	0	55–11	Zimbabwe	6 October 1991
	Ronan O'Gara	Fly-half	23	0	10	1	0	78–9	Japan	11 November 2000
10.	David Humphreys	Fly-half	22	0	2	6	0	54–10	Wales	3 February 2002

Last updated: Ireland v England, 1 March 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries in a match

Tries	Player	Position	Result	Opposition	Date
4	Brian Robinson	Number 8	55–11	Zimbabwe	6 October 1991
	Keith Wood	Hooker	53–8	United States	2 October 1999
	Denis Hickie	Wing	61–6	Italy	30 August 2003
3	Robert Montgomery	Three Quarters	0G-1G	Wales	12 March 1887
	Joseph Quinn	Wing	24–0	France	24 March 1913
	Eugene Davy	Wing	14–11	Scotland	22 February 1930
	Seamus Byrne	Wing	26–8	Scotland	28 February 1953
	Keith Crossan	Wing	60–0	Romania	1 November 1986
	Brendan Mullin	Centre	32–9	Tonga	3 June 1987
	Matt Mostyn	Wing	32–24	Argentina	28 August 1999
	Brian O'Driscoll	Centre	27–25	France	19 March 2000
	Mike Mullins	Centre	83–3	United States	10 June 2000
	Denis Hickie	Wing	78–9	Japan	11 November 2000
	Rob Henderson	Centre	41–22	Italy	3 February 2001
	Brian O'Driscoll	Centre	43–22	Scotland	2 March 2002
	Kevin Maggs	Centre	64–17	Fiji	17 November 2002
	Fergus McFadden	Wing	40–14	Canada	15 June 2013

Last updated: Ireland v England, 1 March 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Player age

Youngest players

#	Player	Age	DOB	Debut	Opposition
1.	Frank Hewitt	17 years 157 days	3 October 1906	8 March 1924	Wales
2.	John Quirke	17 years 229 days	26 June 1944	10 February 1962	England
3.	George McAllan	18 years 13 days	2 February 1878	15 February 1896	Scotland
4.	Edmund Forrest	18 years 57 days	5 October 1870	1 December 1888	New Zealand Natives
5.	Aidan Bailey	18 years 68 days	1 January 1916	10 March 1934	Wales
6.	George Stephenson	18 years 103 days	22 December 1901	3 April 1920	France
7.	George Fagan	18 years 104 days	27 November 1859	11 March 1878	England
8.	Dave Hewitt	18 years 131 days	9 September 1939	18 January 1958	Australia
9.	Frederick Harvey	18 years 189 days	1 September 1888	9 March 1907	Wales
10.	Dickie Lloyd	18 years 192 days	4 August 1891	12 February 1910	England

Last updated: Ireland v England, 1 March 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Oldest players

#	Player	Age	DOB	Last Match	Opposition
1.	John Hayes	37 years 277 days	2 November 1973	6 August 2011	Scotland
2.	Mike Gibson	36 years 195 days	3 December 1942	16 June 1979	Australia
3.	Phil Orr	36 years 175 days	14 December 1950	7 June 1987	Australia
4.	Peter Clohessy	36 years 15 days	22 March 1966	6 April 2002	France
5.	Paul O'Connell	35 years 356 days	20 October 1979	12 October 2015	France
6.	Ronan O'Gara	35 years 354 days	7 March 1977	24 February 2013	Scotland
7.	Syd Millar	35 years 295 days	23 May 1934	14 March 1970	Wales
8.	Moss Keane	35 years 220 days	27 July 1948	3 March 1984	Scotland
9.	Ray McLoughlin	35 years 203 days	24 August 1939	15 March 1975	Wales
10.	Davy Tweed	35 years 199 days	13 November 1959	31 May 1995	Japan

Last updated: Ireland v England, 1 March 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Team margins

Biggest winning margin

Margin	Date	Game	Ground
80	10 June 2000	United States 3-83 Ireland	Singer Family Park, Manchester, New Hampshire, US
70	14 November 1998	Ireland 70-0 Georgia	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
69	11 November 2000	Ireland 78-9 Japan	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
60	1 November 1986	Ireland 60-0 Romania	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
57	19 October 2003	Ireland 64-7 Namibia	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia
55	8 November 2008	Ireland 55-0 Canada	Thomond Park, Limerick, Republic of Ireland
55	30 August 2003	Ireland 61-6 Italy	Thomond Park, Limerick, Republic of Ireland
50	25 September 2011	Ireland 62-12 Russia	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua, New Zealand
49	20 November 2004	Ireland 55-6 United States	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
49	28 September 2002	Ireland 63-14 Georgia	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Last updated: Ireland v England, 1 March 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Biggest losing margin

Margin	Date	Game	Ground
60	23 June 2012	New Zealand 60-0 Ireland	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand
53	6 June 1992	New Zealand 59-6 Ireland	Athletic Park, Wellington, New Zealand
48	15 November 1997	Ireland 15-63 New Zealand	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
40	15 February 1997	Ireland 6-46 England	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
39	6 April 2002	France 46-7 Ireland	Stade de France, Paris, France
38	12 June 2010	New Zealand 66-28 Ireland	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth, New Zealand
38	12 November 2005	Ireland 7-45 New Zealand	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
38	30 November 1912	Ireland 0-38 South Africa	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
36	30 March 2003	Ireland 6-42 England	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
36	12 June 1999	Australia 46-10 Ireland	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Australia

Last updated: Ireland v England, 1 March 2015. Statistics include officially capped matches only.