Ireland national rugby union team tours

This article is a list of statistics from the Ireland rugby union team's 35 international tours. The article also includes details of the Ireland Wolfhounds' and Developmental sides' three international tours.

Ireland Rugby Tours

Year	To	Captain	Head coach	Result	Score
1899	Canada [1] [2]	James Franks		N/A	N/A
1952	Chile & Argentina [3]	Des O'Brien	GPS Hogan	Won	1–1–0
1961	South Africa [3]	Ronnie Dawson	Noel Murphy	Lost	0–1
1967	Australia [3] [4]	Tom Kiernan	Eugene Davy	Won	1–0
1970	Argentina [4]	Tom Kiernan	E. Patterson	Lost	0–2
1976	New Zealand & Fiji [4] [5]	Tom Grace	K. Quilligan	Lost Won	0–1 (New Zealand) 1–0 (Fiji)
1979	Australia [5]	Fergus Slattery	J. Coffey	Won	2–0
1981	South Africa [5] [6]	Fergus Slattery	P. Madigan	Lost	0–2
1985	Japan [6]	Ciaran Fitzgerald	Des McKibbin	Won	2–0
1988	France [6]	Willie Anderson	Jimmy Davidson	N/A	N/A
1989	Canada & United States [6] [7]	Willie Anderson	Jimmy Davidson	Won Won	1–0 (Canada) 1–0 (United States)
1991	Namibia [7]	Phillip Matthews	Ciaran Fitzgerald	Lost	0–2
1992	New Zealand [7] [8]	Phil Danaher	Gerry Murphy	Lost	0–2
1994	Australia [8]	Michael Bradley	Gerry Murphy	Lost	0–2
1998	South Africa [8]	Paddy Johns	Warren Gatland	Lost	0–2
1999	Australia [8] [9]	Dion O'Cuinneagain	Warren Gatland	Lost	0–2
2000	Argentina, United States & Canada [10] [11] [12]	Keith Wood	Warren Gatland	Lost Won Drew	0–1 (Argentina) 1–0 (United States) 0–0 (Canada)
2002	New Zealand [13] [14]	Keith Wood	Eddie O'Sullivan	Lost	0–2
2003	Australia, Tonga & Samoa [15] [16] [17]	David Humphreys Reggie Corrigan	Eddie O'Sullivan	Lost Won Won	0–1 (Australia) 1–0 (Tonga) 1–0 (Samoa)
2004	South Africa [18] [19]	Brian O'Driscoll	Eddie O'Sullivan	Lost	0–2
2005	Japan [20] [21]	David Humphreys	Niall O'Donovan	Won	2–0
2006	New Zealand & Australia [22] [23] [24]	Brian O'Driscoll	Eddie O'Sullivan	Lost Lost	0–2 (New Zealand) 0–1 (Australia)
2007	Argentina [25] [26]	Simon Best	Eddie O'Sullivan	Lost	0–2
2008	New Zealand & Australia [27] [28]	Brian O'Driscoll	Michael Bradley	Lost Lost	0–1 (New Zealand) 0–1 (Australia)
2009	Canada & United States [29]	Rory Best	Declan Kidney	Won Won	1–0 (Canada) 1–0 (United States)
2010	New Zealand & Australia [30] [31] [28]	Brian O'Driscoll	Declan Kidney	Lost	0–1 (New Zealand) 0–1 (Australia)
2012	New Zealand [32]	Brian O'Driscoll	Declan Kidney	Lost	0–3 (New Zealand)
2013	Canada & United States [33] [34]	Peter O'Mahony	Les Kiss	Won	1–0 (Canada) 1–0 (United States)
2014	Argentina [35]	Paul O'Connell	Joe Schmidt	Won	2–0
2016	South Africa [36]	Rory Best	Joe Schmidt	Lost	1–2
2017	Japan [37]	Rhys Ruddock	Joe Schmidt	Won	2–0
2018	Australia [38]	Rory Best	Joe Schmidt	Won	2–1
2022	New Zealand [39]	Johnny Sexton	Andy Farrell	Won	2–1
2024	South Africa [40]	Peter O'Mahony/ Caelan Doris	Andy Farrell	Drew	1–1
2025	Georgia & Portugal [41] [42]	Craig Casey	Paul O'Connell	Won	1–0 (Georgia) 1–0 (Portugal)

Tour Statistics

Flag	Nation or Nations	From	To	Test Matches				Tour Matches				Total Record
				P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	%	PF	PA	PD
	1889 tour of Canada [1] [2] [43]	12 October	6 November	-	-	-	-	11	10	-	1	11	10	-	1	90.91%	150	50	+100
	1952 tour of South America [3] Test Series [43] Ireland 1–1–0 Argentina	1 August	3 September	-	-	-	-	9	6	2	1	9	6	2	1	66.67%	126	43	+83
	1961 tour of South Africa [3] Test Series Ireland 0–1 South Africa	13 May	24 May	1	-	-	1	3	3	-	-	4	3	-	1	75%	59	36	+23
	1967 tour of Australia [3] [4] Test Series Ireland 1–0 Australia	1 May	20 May	1	1	-	-	5	3	-	2	6	4	-	2	66.67%	119	80	+39
	1970 tour of Argentina [4] Test Series [43] Ireland 0–2 Argentina	30 August	20 September	-	-	-	-	7	4	-	3	7	4	-	3	85.71%	73	57	+16
	1976 tour of New Zealand & Fiji [4] [5] Test Series Ireland 0–1 New Zealand Ireland 1–0 Fiji (Tour Match)	15 May	9 June	1	-	-	1	7	5	-	2	8	5	-	3	57.14%	88	68	+20
	1979 tour of Australia [5] Test Series Ireland 2–0 Australia	20 May	16 June	2	2	-	-	6	5	-	1	8	7	-	1	87.5%	184	75	+109
	1981 tour of South Africa [5] [6] Test Series Ireland 0–2 South Africa	16 May	6 June	2	-	-	2	5	3	-	2	7	3	-	4	42.86%	207	90	+117
	1985 tour of Japan [6] Test Series [43] Ireland 2–0 Japan	19 May	2 June	-	-	-	-	5	5	-	-	5	5	-	-	100%	201	66	+135
	1988 tour of France [6] Test Series [43]	May	22 May	-	-	-	-	4	1	-	3	4	1	-	3	25%	75	104	-29
	1989 tour of North America [6] [7] Test Series [43] Ireland 1–0 Canada Ireland 1–0 United States	30 August	9 September	-	-	-	-	4	4	-	-	4	4	-	-	100%	135	52	+83
	1991 tour of Namibia [7] Test Series Ireland 0–2 Namibia	17 June	27 June	2	-	-	2	2	2	-	-	4	2	-	2	50%	101	61	+40
	1992 tour of New Zealand [7] [8] Test Series Ireland 0–2 New Zealand	16 May	6 June	2	-	-	2	6	3	-	3	8	3	-	5	37.5%	153	287	-134
	1994 tour of Australia [8] Test Series Ireland 0–2 Australia	18 May	11 June	2	-	-	2	6	2	-	4	8	2	-	6	25%	177	254	-77
	1998 tour of South Africa [8] Test Series Ireland 0–2 South Africa	30 May	20 June	2	-	-	2	5	2	-	3	7	2	-	5	28.57%	113	144	-31
	1999 tour of Australia [8] [9] Test Series Ireland 0–2 Australia	31 May	19 June	2	-	-	2	2	1	-	1	4	1	-	3	25%	103	123	-20
	2000 Ireland rugby union tour of the Americas [10] [11] [12] Test Series Ireland 0–1 Argentina Ireland 0–1–0 Canada Ireland 1–0 United States	3 June	17 June	3	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	3	1	1	1	33.33%	133	64	+69
	2002 tour of New Zealand [44] [13] [14] Test Series Ireland 0–2 New Zealand	8 June	22 June	2	-	-	2	1	1	-	-	3	1	-	2	33.33%	70	58	+12
	2003 Ireland rugby union tour of the Southern Hemisphere [15] [16] [17] Test Series Ireland 0–1 Australia Ireland 1–0 Tonga Ireland 1–0 Western Samoa	7 June	20 June	3	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	3	1	-	2	66.67%	96	78	+18
	2004 tour of South Africa [18] [19] Test Series Ireland 0–2 South Africa	12 June	19 June	2	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2	0%	34	57	-23
	2005 tour of Japan [20] [21] Test Series Ireland 2–0 Japan	12 June	19 June	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	100%	91	30	+61
	2006 tour of New Zealand and Australia [22] [23] [24] Test Series Ireland 0–1 Australia Ireland 0–2 All Blacks	10 June	24 June	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	3	0%	55	98	-43
	2007 tour of Argentina [25] [26] Test Series Ireland 0–2 Argentina	26 May	2 June	2	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2	0%	20	38	-18
	2008 tour of New Zealand and Australia [27] [45] Test Series Ireland 0–1 Australia Ireland 0–1 All Blacks	7 June	14 June	2	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2	0%	23	39	-16
	2009 tour of North America [29] Test Series Ireland 1–0 Canada Ireland 1–0 United States	23 May	24 June	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	100%	52	16	+36
	2010 tour of New Zealand and Australia [30] [31] [28] Test Series Ireland 0–1 Australia Ireland 0–1 All Blacks	12 June	26 June	2	-	-	2	1	-	-	1	3	-	-	3	0%	71	118	-47
	2012 tour of New Zealand [32] Test Series Ireland 0–3 All Blacks	9 June	23 June	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	3	0%	29	124	-47
	2013 tour of North America [33] [34] Test Series Ireland 1–0 Canada Ireland 1–0 United States	8 June	15 June	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	100%	55	26	+29
	2014 tour of Argentina [35] Test Series Ireland 2–0 Argentina	7 June	14 June	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	100%	52	34	+18
	2016 tour of South Africa [36] Test Series Ireland 1–2 South Africa	11 June	25 June	2	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	3	1	-	2	33.33%	65	71	-6
	2017 tour of Japan [37] Test Series Ireland 2–0 Japan	17 June	24 June	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	100%	85	35	+50
	2018 tour of Australia [38] Test Series Ireland 2–1 Australia	9 June	23 June	3	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	3	2	-	1	66.67%	55	55	0
	2022 tour of New Zealand [39] Test Series Ireland 2–1 New Zealand	29 June	16 July	3	2	-	1	2	1	-	1	5	3	-	2	60%	121	132	-11
	2024 tour of South Africa [40] Test Series Ireland 1–1 South Africa	6 July	13 July	2	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	1	50%	45	51	-6
	2025 Georgia & Portugal [41] [42] Test Series Ireland 1–0 Georgia Ireland 1–0 Portugal	5 July	12 July	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	100%	140	12	+128
Total	35 Tours	—	—	60	24	1	37	91	61	2	28	153	84	3	66	54.9%	3,356	2,726	+630

Ireland A, Emerging Ireland & Development Rugby Tours

Year	To	Captain	Head coach	Result	Score
1993	South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe [9]	Kevin Potts	Gerry Murphy	Won	1–0 (Zimbabwe)
1997	Oceania [46]	Gabriel Fulcher Gary Halpin	Brian Ashton	Lost	0–1 (Western Samoa XV)
2022	South Africa [47]	Max Deegan Cian Prendergast	Simon Easterby	Won	3–0 (All tour matches)

Tour Statistics

Flag	Nation or Nations	From	To	Test Matches				Tour Matches				Total Record
				P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	%	PF	PA	PD
	1993 South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe tour [9]	21 July	11 August	1	1	-	-	6	5	-	1	7	6	-	1	85.71%	219	103	+116
	1997 Oceania tour [9]	22 May	14 June	1	-	-	1	6	1	-	5	7	1	-	6	14.29%	169	337	-168
	2022 South Africa tour [47]	30 September	9 October	-	-	-	-	3	3	-	-	3	3	-	-	100%	103	45	+58
Total	3 Tours	—	—	2	1	0	1	15	9	0	6	17	10	0	7	58.82%	491	485	+6

References

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