List of rugby union Test caps leaders

This is a list of the all-time leaders for caps in men's rugby union Test matches, with a minimum of 90 confirmed Test caps. Unlike in cricket, where both countries must grant Test status for a match to be considered a Test, 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 one specific nation, but are also considered Test teams because they are selected by a group of recognised national unions. Some nations have sometimes granted Test caps for matches against teams such as the invitational Barbarians side; these are included only if the player's nation actually granted a Test cap for a particular match.

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.

List

Last updated: 29 May 2016

Rank	Caps	Player	International team	First/Latest appearance	Primary position	Ref
1	148	Richie McCaw	New Zealand	2001–2015	Flanker
2	141	Brian O'Driscoll	Ireland (133) British and Irish Lions (8)	1999–2014	Centre
3	139	George Gregan	Australia	1994–2007	Scrum-half
4	132	Keven Mealamu	New Zealand	2002–2015	Hooker
5	130	Ronan O'Gara	Ireland (128) British and Irish Lions (2)	2000–2013	Fly-half
6	129	Gethin Jenkins	Wales (124) British and Irish Lions (5)	2002–2016	Prop
7	127	Victor Matfield	South Africa	2001–2015	Lock
8	119	Martin Castrogiovanni	Italy	2002–	Prop
=	119	Jason Leonard	England (114) British and Irish Lions (5)	1990–2004	Prop
=	119	Sergio Parisse	Italy	2002–	Number 8
11	118	Fabien Pelous	France	1995–2007	Lock
=	118	Tony Woodcock	New Zealand	2002–2015	Prop
13	117	Bryan Habana	South Africa	2002–	Wing
14	116	Nathan Sharpe	Australia	2002–2012	Lock
15	115	Paul O'Connell	Ireland (108) British and Irish Lions (7)	2002–2015	Lock
16	114	Adam Ashley-Cooper	Australia	2005–	Centre
17	112	Marco Bortolami	Italy	2001–2015	Lock
=	112	Dan Carter	New Zealand	2003–2015	Fly-half
19	111	Philippe Sella	France	1982–1995	Centre
=	111	John Smit	South Africa	2000–2011	Hooker
=	111	George Smith	Australia	2000–2013	Flanker
22	110	Stephen Jones	Wales (104) British and Irish Lions (6)	1998–2011	Fly-half
23	109	Jean de Villiers	South Africa	2004–2015	Centre
=	109	Chris Paterson	Scotland	1999–2011	Utility back
25	107	John Hayes	Ireland (105) British and Irish Lions (2)	2000–2011	Prop
26	106	Mauro Bergamasco	Italy	1998–2015	Flanker
27	105	Alun Wyn Jones	Wales (99) British and Irish Lions (6)	2006–2016	Lock
28	104	Sean Lamont	Scotland	2004–	Wing
=	104	Martyn Williams	Wales (100) British and Irish Lions (4)	1996–2012	Flanker
30	103	Andrea Lo Cicero Vaina	Italy	2000–2013	Prop
=	103	Ma'a Nonu	New Zealand	2003–2015	Centre
=	103	Gareth Thomas	Wales (100) British and Irish Lions (3)	1995–2007	Utility back
33	102	Matt Giteau	Australia	2002–	Fly-half
=	102	Stephen Larkham	Australia	1996–2007	Fly-half
=	102	Percy Montgomery	South Africa	1997–2008	Fullback
=	102	Stephen Moore	Australia	2005–	Hooker
37	101	David Campese	Australia	1982–1996	Wing
=	101	Alessandro Troncon	Italy	1994–2007	Scrum-half
=	101	Vasco Uva	Portugal	2003–	Flanker
40	100	Ross Ford	Scotland (99) British and Irish Lions (1)	2004–	Hooker
=	100	Adam Jones	Wales (95) British and Irish Lions (5)	2002–2014	Prop
=	100	Mils Muliaina	New Zealand	2003–2011	Fullback
43	99	Mike Phillips	Wales (94) British and Irish Lions (5)	2003–2015	Scrum-half
=	99	Alessandro Zanni	Italy	2005–	Flanker
45	98	Raphaël Ibañez	France	1996–2007	Hooker
=	98	Donncha O'Callaghan	Ireland (94) British and Irish Lions (4)	2003–2013	Lock
=	98	Peter Stringer	Ireland	2000–2011	Scrum-half
48	97	Jonny Wilkinson	England (91) British and Irish Lions (6)	1998–2011	Fly-half
49	96	Colin Charvis	Wales (94) British and Irish Lions (2)	1996–2007	Flanker
=	96	Hitoshi Ono	Japan	2004–	Lock
51	95	Andrea Masi	Italy	1999–	Centre
52	94	Rory Best	Ireland	2005–	Hooker
=	94	Conrad Smith	New Zealand	2004–2015	Centre
54	93	Serge Blanco	France	1980–1991	Fullback
55	92	Sean Fitzpatrick	New Zealand	1986–1997	Hooker
=	92	Martin Johnson	England (84) British and Irish Lions (8)	1993–2003	Lock
=	92	Davit Kacharava	Georgia	2006-	Centre
=	92	Merab Kvirikashvili	Georgia	2003-	Fullback
=	92	Gareth Llewellyn	Wales	1989–2005	Lock
=	92	Malcolm O'Kelly	Ireland	1997–2009	Lock
=	92	Cristian Petre	Romania	2001–2012	Lock
62	91	Giorgi Chkhaidze	Georgia	2002-	Number 8
63	91	Neil Jenkins	Wales (87) British and Irish Lions (4)	1990–2003	Fly-half
=	91	Rory Underwood	England (85) British and Irish Lions (6)	1984–1996	Wing
=	91	Shane Williams	Wales (87) British and Irish Lions (4)	2000–2011	Wing
66	90	Jamie Heaslip	Ireland (85) British and Irish Lions (5)	2006-	Number 8
=	90	Florin Vlaicu	Romania	2006-	Centre

Notes:

• 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 August 26, 1995 the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board, declared the game "open" to professionalism.) Only Blanco and Sella played Tests exclusively in the amateur era.
• Although the official site of the French Rugby Federation lists Olivier Magne with 90 caps, this is apparently in error. One of his Test appearances, a 1999 match against Wales, is counted twice in the list.

See also

• List of leading Rugby union Test try scorers
• List of leading Rugby union Test point scorers
• List of leading Rugby union drop goal scorers
• List of top English points scorers and try scorers

External links

• Scrum.com

• 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.
• His international debut was a match against the Barbarians on 24 August 1996 for which Wales granted Test caps.
• This total includes the aforementioned Barbarians match in 1996 that also marked the Wales debut of Martyn Williams.