List of rugby union test caps leaders

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This is a list of the appearance leaders in men's rugby union test matches, listing the 75 players with the most confirmed test caps. Rugby union requires only one nation to recognise a match as a test in order for it to be included in test statistics for that nation. The British and Irish Lions and Pacific Islanders do not represent a single country, but are recognised as test teams because they are selected by a group of national unions. Some national teams have sometimes granted test caps for matches against teams such as the invitational Barbarians side; these are included only if the union granted test caps for a particular match.

List[]

Players who are still active at international level, or who have not yet announced international retirement, are in bold. Players who are still active at club level but have either retired from international rugby or have not been selected for their national team for a year or more are in italics.

As of 12 September 2021[1]
Rank Caps Player International team First/Latest
appearance		 Primary
position		 Ref(s)
1 160 Alun Wyn Jones  Wales (148)
 British and Irish Lions (12)		 2006– Lock [2]
2 148 Richie McCaw  New Zealand 2001–2015 Flanker [3]
3 142 Sergio Parisse  Italy 2002–2019 Number 8 [4]
4 141 Brian O'Driscoll  Ireland (133)
 British and Irish Lions (8)		 1999–2014 Centre [5][6]
5 139 George Gregan  Australia 1994–2007 Scrum-half [7][8]
6 134 Gethin Jenkins  Wales (129)
 British and Irish Lions (5)		 2002–2018 Prop [9]
7 132 Keven Mealamu  New Zealand 2002–2015 Hooker [10]
8 130 Ronan O'Gara  Ireland (128)
 British and Irish Lions (2)		 2000–2013 Fly-half [11]
9 129 Stephen Moore  Australia 2005–2017 Hooker
10 127 Victor Matfield  South Africa 2001–2015 Lock [12]
Kieran Read  New Zealand 2008–2019 Number 8
Florin Vlaicu  Romania 2006– Centre
Sam Whitelock  New Zealand 2010– Lock
14 124 Rory Best  Ireland 2005–2019 Hooker [13]
Bryan Habana  South Africa 2004–2016 Wing [14]
16 122 Davit Kacharava  Georgia 2006–2020 Centre
17 121 Adam Ashley-Cooper  Australia 2005–2019 Centre / Wing [15]
18 119 Martin Castrogiovanni  Italy 2002–2016 Prop [16]
Jason Leonard  England (114)
 British and Irish Lions (5)		 1990–2004 Prop [17]
Alessandro Zanni  Italy 2005–2020 Flanker [18]
20 118 Fabien Pelous  France 1995–2007 Lock [19]
Tony Woodcock  New Zealand 2002–2015 Prop [20]
23 117 Yuri Kushnarev  Russia 2005– Fullback
Tendai Mtawarira  South Africa 2008–2019 Prop
25 116 Nathan Sharpe  Australia 2002–2012 Lock [21]
26 115 Merab Kvirikashvili  Georgia 2003–2018 Fullback
Paul O'Connell  Ireland (108)
 British and Irish Lions (7)		 2002–2015 Lock [22]
28 112 Marco Bortolami  Italy 2001–2015 Lock [23]
Dan Carter  New Zealand 2003–2015 Fly-half [24]
Michael Hooper  Australia 2012– Flanker
31 111 Ross Ford  Scotland (110)
 British and Irish Lions (1)		 2004–2017 Hooker [25]
Philippe Sella  France 1982–1995 Centre [26]
John Smit  South Africa 2000–2011 Hooker[27] [28]
George Smith  Australia 2000–2013 Flanker [29][30]
Ben Youngs  England (109)
 British and Irish Lions (2)		 2010– Scrum-half
36 110 Will Genia  Australia 2009–2019 Scrum-half
Stephen Jones  Wales (104)
 British and Irish Lions (6)		 1998–2011 Fly-half [31]
Sekope Kepu  Australia 2008–2019 Prop
39 109 Jean de Villiers  South Africa 2004–2015 Centre [32]
Cătălin Fercu  Romania 2005–2020 Fullback
Cian Healy  Ireland 2009– Prop
Chris Paterson  Scotland 1999–2011 Fullback [33]
43 108 Owen Franks  New Zealand 2009–2019 Prop
44 107 Leonardo Ghiraldini  Italy 2006–2020 Hooker
John Hayes  Ireland (105)
 British and Irish Lions (2)		 2000–2011 Prop [34][35]
James Slipper  Australia 2010- Prop
47 106 Mauro Bergamasco  Italy 1998–2015 Flanker [36]
Victor Gresev  Russia 2006– Flanker
Rob Simmons  Australia 2010- Lock
50 105 Sean Lamont  Scotland 2004–2016 Wing [37]
George North  Wales (102)
 British and Irish Lions (3)		 2010- Wing
Jonathan Sexton  Ireland (99)
 British and Irish Lions (6)		 2009- Fly-half
53 104 Martyn Williams  Wales (100)
 British and Irish Lions (4)		 1996–2012 Flanker [38]
54 103 Matt Giteau  Australia 2002–2016 Fly-half [39]
Andrea Lo Cicero Vaina  Italy 2000–2013 Prop [40]
Ma'a Nonu  New Zealand 2003–2015 Centre [41]
Gareth Thomas  Wales (100)
 British and Irish Lions (3)		 1995–2007 Utility back [42][43]
58 102 Stephen Larkham  Australia 1996–2007 Fly-half [7][44]
Percy Montgomery  South Africa 1997–2008 Fullback [45]
Alessandro Troncon  Italy 1994–2007 Scrum-half [7][46]
61 101 David Campese  Australia 1982–1996 Wing [47]
Aaron Smith  New Zealand 2012- Scrum-half
Gonçalo Uva  Portugal 2004–2018 Lock
Vasco Uva  Portugal 2003–2016 Flanker [48]
65 100 Valentin Calafeteanu  Romania 2004–2019 Scrum-half
Giorgi Chkhaidze  Georgia 2002–2017 Number 8
Andrey Garbuzov  Russia 2005–2020 Flanker
Leigh Halfpenny  Wales (96)
 British and Irish Lions (4)		 2008- Fullback
Jamie Heaslip  Ireland (95)
 British and Irish Lions (5)		 2006–2017 Number 8
Adam Jones  Wales (95)
 British and Irish Lions (5)		 2002–2014 Prop [49]
Mils Muliaina  New Zealand 2003–2011 Fullback [50]
71 99 Owen Farrell  England (93)
 British and Irish Lions (6)		 2012- Fly-half
Lasha Malaguradze  Georgia 2008– Fly-half
Mike Phillips  Wales (94)
 British and Irish Lions (5)		 2003–2015 Scrum-half [51]
75 98 Dan Cole  England (95)
 British and Irish Lions (3)		 2010-2019 Prop
Raphaël Ibañez  France 1996–2007 Hooker [52]
Rob Kearney  Ireland (95)
 British and Irish Lions (3)		 2007-2019 Fullback
Donncha O'Callaghan  Ireland (94)
 British and Irish Lions (4)		 2003–2013 Lock [53]
Hitoshi Ono  Japan 2004-2016 Lock [54]
Peter Stringer  Ireland 2000–2011 Scrum-half [55]

Most caps in amateur era[]

Of the players known to have earned 90 or more caps, only five — Philippe Sella, David Campese, Serge Blanco, Sean Fitzpatrick, and Rory Underwood — were primarily active in the sport's amateur era. On 26 August 1995 the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board, declared the game "open" to professionalism.[56] Only Blanco and Sella played tests exclusively in the amateur era.

Rank Caps Player International team First/Latest
appearance		 Primary
position		 Ref(s).
30 111 Philippe Sella  France 1982–1995 Centre [26]
59 101 David Campese  Australia 1982–1996 Wing [47]
87 93 Serge Blanco  France 1980–1991 Fullback [57]
89 92 Sean Fitzpatrick  New Zealand 1986–1997 Hooker
Rory Underwood  England (85)
 British and Irish Lions (7)		 1984–1996 Wing [58]

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ "Alun Wyn Jones Career figures". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
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  4. ^ "Sergio Parisse". scrum.com. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
  5. ^ "Ireland Squad: Brian O'Driscoll". Irish Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
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  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Bond, Karen, Rugby News Service (2007-10-19). "Thanks for the memories". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2008-02-05.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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  15. ^ "Adam Ashley-Cooper Career figures". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
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  23. ^ "Marco Bortolami". scrum.com. Retrieved 2012-02-11.
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  27. ^ Smit returned to hooker in the Springboks' final 2009 Test against Ireland after having spent about a year as a tighthead prop. All but two of his caps from his debut through the 2008 mid-year Tests were at hooker. See his main reference for details.
  28. ^ "Statsguru / Player analysis / John Smit / Test matches". Scrum.com. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  29. ^ "Statsguru / Player analysis / George Smith / Test matches". Scrum.com. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
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  33. ^ "Chris Paterson". ScotlandRugbyTeam.org. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  34. ^ "John Hayes". Irish Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  35. ^ "John Hayes". British and Irish Lions. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
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  38. ^ "Statsguru / Player analysis / Martyn Williams / Test matches". Scrum.com. Retrieved 2010-02-06. His international debut was a match against the Barbarians on 24 August 1996 for which Wales granted Test caps.
  39. ^ "Statsguru / Player analysis / Matt Giteau". Scrum.com. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
  40. ^ "Statsguru / Player analysis / Andrea Lo Cicero Vaina". Scrum.com. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
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  53. ^ "Donnacha O'Callaghan". scrum.com. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  54. ^ "Hitoshi Ono". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
  55. ^ "Ireland Squad: Peter Stringer". Irish Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  56. ^ Howitt, Bob (2005). SANZAR Saga - Ten Years of Super 12 and Tri-Nations Rugby. HarperCollins. p. 8. ISBN 1-86950-566-2.
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  58. ^ "Rory Underwod MBE". UPH Ltd. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-05.

External links[]

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