Ireland Rugby has had its fair share of legendary captains down through the decades. Today, Andy Farrell confirmed that Peter O'Mahony would be named Ireland captain for the 2024 Six Nations.
There have been ninety-nine Ireland Rugby captains since the Ireland rugby team had their first match back in 1875. While some captaincies were once-offs, others truly inspired the success of many of Ireland's rugby successes.
Here at Balls, we decided to gather a list of the most capped Ireland rugby captains and also every player to have captained the Irish rugby squad since the professional era which began back in 1995.
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Top 10 Most Capped Ireland Rugby Captains
Rank | Name | Years | Captaincies | Caps | Wins | Wins % |
1 | Brian O'Driscoll | 2002–2012 | 83 | 133 | 52 | 62.65% |
2 | Rory Best | 2009–2019 | 38 | 124 | 24 | 63.16% |
3 | Keith Wood | 1996–2003 | 36 | 58 | 15 | 41.67% |
4 | Johnny Sexton | 2019–2023 | 30 | 118 | 25 | 83.33% |
5 | Paul O'Connell | 2004–2015 | 28 | 108 | 18 | 64.29% |
6 | Tom Kiernan | 1963–1973 | 24 | 54 | 16 | 66.67% |
7 | Ciarán Fitzgerald | 1982–1986 | 19 | 25 | 9 | 47.37% |
8 | Dónal Lenihan | 1986–1990 | 17 | 52 | 8 | 47.06% |
Fergus Slattery | 1979–1981 | 17 | 61 | 5 | 29.41% | |
10 | Michael Bradley | 1992–1995 | 15 | 40 | 5 | 33.33% |
William Crawford | 1924–1927 | 15 | 30 | 11 | 73.33% | |
Karl Mullen | 1947–1952 | 15 | 25 | 10 | 66.67% |
Who was Ireland rugby's first captain?
George Stack was the first ever man to captain Ireland in a rugby match. He captained Ireland in a game against England on February 15th, 1875.
Ireland Rugby Captains since 1995
Every Ireland Rugby captain since the professional era in order
Michael Bradley - 1992 to 1995
The professional rugby era in Ireland began back in 1995 and although our first player on this list held his first captaincy back in 1992, he was still captain in 1995.
Brendan Mullin - 1995
Mullins earned his first cap as captain against England on the 21st of January 1995.
Nick Popplewell - 1995
Popplewell captained the Irish team for the first time against Japan, on 31/05/1995
Jim Staples - 1995
Staples earned his for appearance as Irish captain back on the 18th of November 1995 versus Fiji.
Niall Hogan - 1996
Hogan earned his Irish captaincy against Wales back on March 3rd 1996.
Keith Wood - 1996 - 2003
Ireland's third time all highest capped captain. Woods first captained an Irish side against Australia in an international friendly on November 23rd, 1996.
Paddy Johns - 1998
Johns appeared as Ireland captain for the first time against South Africa on 13/06/1998
Dion O’Cuinneagain - 1999
O’Cuinneagain had the honour of captaining Ireland when Ireland played Australia on June 12th, 1999.
Mick Galwey - 2001
Galwey captained Ireland against Romania on the 02/06/2001.
Anthony Foley - 2001
Foley was selected as Ireland's captain versus Western Samoa, on November 11th, 2001.
David Humphreys - 2001
Humphreys captained Ireland v Italy, 23/03/2002
Brian O’Driscoll - 2002 to 2012
One of Ireland rugby's best-known captains and the longest-serving captain Irish rugby has ever had. Brian O'Driscoll first captained Ireland against Australia on November 9th, 2002.
Reggie Corrigan - 2003
Captained the Ireland v Tonga clash , on 14/06/2003.
Paul O’Connell - 2004 to 2015
O'Connell made 28 appearances as captain of the Ireland rugby team, He earned his first captain's cap on February 14th, 2004 against France.
Simon Easterby - 2005
Easterby first captained Ireland against rugby giants New Zealand on 12/11/2005.
Simon Best - 2007
Best received the captain's armband for Ireland v Argentina back on May 26th, 2007.
Ronan O’Gara - 2008
An Irish rugby legend, O'Gara first earned the honour of captaining an Irish rugby side back in 2008 on March 15th against England.
Rory Best - 2009 to 2019
Best has the second-highest amount of appearances as Ireland's captain. Best made his first appearance as Ireland rugby captain on May 23rd against Canada in 2009. He then went on to represent Ireland as captain 37 more times.
Leo Cullen - 2011
Cullen was captain of Ireland on August 6th, 2011, in a World Cup warmup.
Jamie Heaslip - 2012
Heaslip was captain of the Irish rugby side which played South Africa on November 11th 2012.
Eoin Reddan - 2014
Reddan became a part of Ireland's captain list on the 16th of November 2014 against Georgia.
Sean O’Brien - 2015
Sean O'Brien was added to the list of Ireland rugby captains back in 2015 against Scotland (15/08/2015).
Rhys Ruddock - 2017
Ruddock was captain of the Irish rugby team when they played the USA on the 10/06/2017.
Jonathan Sexton - 2019 to 2023
An Irish captain who needs no introduction, Sexton first became captain of the Ireland rugby team back on October 3rd, 2019 when Ireland played Russia in the Rugby World Cup.
Sexton is the most capped Irish captain, captaining the side for a record 83 times. His final appearance as Ireland came in the 2023 World Cup against New Zealand.
James Ryan - 2020
One of the many men backed to take over the captaincy role left vacant by Sexton since retiring, Ryan already ahs experience captaining this Irish side.
He was first selected as captain back in 2020, when Ireland played England on November 21st.
Iain Henderson - 2021
Another player to be added to the long list of Ireland captain's, Henderson first captained Ireland on February 14th against France in the 2021 Six Nations.
Tadhg Furlong - 2022
The latest addition to Ireland's rugby captains list, Tadhg Furlong earned his first taste of Irish captaincy against Fiji for the Bank of Ireland Nations Series back on November 11th 2022.
Peter O’Mahony - 2013 - 2024
O'Mahony first captained Ireland in their game against the USA in 2013. 11 years later, he has been named Ireland rugby captain by Andy Farrell.
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