List of rugby union test caps leaders

Men's rugby test caps leaders

Alun Wyn Jones of Wales has the most international appearances for any male rugby player.

This is a list of the appearance leaders in men's rugby union test matches, listing the 92 players with over one hundred 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.^{[ citation needed ]} The British and Irish Lions and Pacific Islanders do not represent a single country, but they are selected by a group of national unions and are recognised as test teams. 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

As of 9 February 2025 ^[1]

Bold	Player is still active at international level.
Italics	Player is still active at club level but has either retired from international rugby or has not been selected for their national team over a year.
	Player has the record number of caps for their national team.

Rank	Caps	Player	International team	First/Latest appearance	Primary position	Ref(s)
1	171	Alun Wyn Jones	Wales (158)   British and Irish Lions (13)	2006–2023	Lock	[2]
2	153	Sam Whitelock	New Zealand	2010–2023	Lock	[3]
3	148	Richie McCaw	New Zealand	2001–2015	Flanker	[3]
4	143	James Slipper	Australia	2010–present	Prop	[4]
5	142	Sergio Parisse	Italy	2002–2019	Number 8	[3]
6	141	Brian O'Driscoll	Ireland (133)   British and Irish Lions (8)	1999–2014	Centre	[5] [6]
7	139	George Gregan	Australia	1994–2007	Scrum-half	[7] [8]
8	136	Cian Healy	Ireland	2009–present	Prop	[9]
9	134	Beauden Barrett	New Zealand	2012–present	Fly-half / Fullback	[10]
		Gethin Jenkins	Wales (129)   British and Irish Lions (5)	2002–2018	Prop	[11]
11	132	Keven Mealamu	New Zealand	2002–2015	Hooker	[12]
		Conor Murray	Ireland (123)   British and Irish Lions (9)	2011–present	Scrum-half	[13] [14]
13	131	Eben Etzebeth	South Africa	2012–present	Lock	[15]
14	130	Ronan O'Gara	Ireland (128)   British and Irish Lions (2)	2000–2013	Fly-half	[16]
15	129	Stephen Moore	Australia	2005–2017	Hooker	[17]
		Florin Vlaicu	Romania	2006–2022	Centre	[18]
		Ben Youngs	England (127)   British and Irish Lions (2)	2010–2023	Scrum-half	[19] [20]
18	127	Victor Matfield	South Africa	2001–2015	Lock	[21]
		Kieran Read	New Zealand	2008–2019	Number 8	[22]
20	125	Michael Hooper	Australia	2012–2023	Flanker	[23]
		Aaron Smith	New Zealand	2012–2023	Scrum-half	[24]
22	124	Rory Best	Ireland	2005–2019	Hooker	[25]
		Bryan Habana	South Africa	2004–2016	Wing	[26]
		George North	Wales (121)   British and Irish Lions (3)	2010–2024	Wing	[27] [28]
		Johnny Sexton	Ireland (118)   British and Irish Lions (6)	2009–2023	Fly-half	[29] [30]
26	122	Davit Kacharava	Georgia	2006–2020	Centre	[31]
27	121	Adam Ashley-Cooper	Australia	2005–2019	Centre / Wing	[32]
		Dan Cole	England (118)   British and Irish Lions (3)	2010–present	Prop
29	120	Yuri Kushnarev	Russia	2005–2021	Fly-half / Fullback
30	119	Martin Castrogiovanni	Italy	2002–2016	Prop	[33]
		Owen Farrell	England (112)   British and Irish Lions (7)	2012–2023	Fly-half	[34] [35]
		Jason Leonard	England (114)   British and Irish Lions (5)	1990–2004	Prop	[36]
		Alessandro Zanni	Italy	2005–2020	Flanker	[37]
34	118	Fabien Pelous	France	1995–2007	Lock	[38]
		Tony Woodcock	New Zealand	2002–2015	Prop	[39]
36	117	Tendai Mtawarira	South Africa	2008–2019	Prop	[40]
		Alexander Todua	Georgia	2008–present	Wing
37	116	Dan Biggar	Wales (112)   British and Irish Lions (4)	2008–2023	Fly-half	[41] [42]
		Nathan Sharpe	Australia	2002–2012	Lock	[43]
40	115	Merab Kvirikashvili	Georgia	2003–2018	Fullback	[44]
		Paul O'Connell	Ireland (108)   British and Irish Lions (7)	2002–2015	Lock	[45]
42	112	Marco Bortolami	Italy	2001–2015	Lock	[46]
		Dan Carter	New Zealand	2003–2015	Fly-half	[47]
		Peter O'Mahony	Ireland (111)   British and Irish Lions (1)	2012–present	Flanker
45	111	Taulupe Faletau	Wales (105)   British and Irish Lions (6)	2011–present	Number 8	[48] [49]
		Ross Ford	Scotland (110)   British and Irish Lions (1)	2004–2017	Hooker	[50]
		Courtney Lawes	England (105)   British and Irish Lions (6)	2009–2023	Flanker
		Philippe Sella [a]	France	1982–1995	Centre	[52]
		John Smit	South Africa	2000–2011	Hooker [53]	[54]
		George Smith	Australia	2000–2013	Flanker	[55] [56]
51	110	Agustin Creevy	Argentina	2005–2024	Hooker	[57]
		Will Genia	Australia	2009–2019	Scrum-half	[58]
		Stephen Jones	Wales (104)   British and Irish Lions (6)	1998–2011	Fly-half	[59]
		Sekope Kepu	Australia	2008–2019	Prop	[60]
55	109	Jean de Villiers	South Africa	2002–2015	Centre	[61]
		Cătălin Fercu	Romania	2005–2020	Fullback	[62]
		Pablo Matera	Argentina	2013–present	Flanker
		Chris Paterson	Scotland	1999–2011	Fullback / Wing	[63]
		Brodie Retallick	New Zealand	2012–2023	Lock
60	108	Owen Franks	New Zealand	2009–2019	Prop
		Florin Surugiu	Romania	2008–2024	Scrum-half
62	107	Leonardo Ghiraldini	Italy	2006–2020	Hooker
		Victor Gresev	Russia	2006–2022	Flanker
		John Hayes	Ireland (105)   British and Irish Lions (2)	2000–2011	Prop	[64] [65]
		Diego Magno	Uruguay	2008–2024	Lock
66	106	Mauro Bergamasco	Italy	1998–2015	Flanker	[66]
		Rob Simmons	Australia	2010–2020	Lock
68	105	Leigh Halfpenny	Wales (101)   British and Irish Lions (4)	2008–2023	Fullback
		Sean Lamont	Scotland	2004–2016	Wing	[67]
		Julian Montoya	Argentina	2014–present	Hooker
71	104	Sam Cane	New Zealand	2012–2024	Flanker
		Mihai Macovei	Romania	2006–2023	Flanker
		Nicolas Sanchez	Argentina	2010–2023	Fly-half
		Martyn Williams	Wales (100)   British and Irish Lions (4)	1996–2012	Flanker	[68]
75	103	Matt Giteau	Australia	2002–2016	Fly-half	[69]
		Andrea Lo Cicero Vaina	Italy	2000–2013	Prop	[70]
		Shalva Mamukashvili	Georgia	2011–2023	Hooker
		Ma'a Nonu	New Zealand	2003–2015	Centre	[71]
		Merab Sharikadze	Georgia	2012–2024	Centre
		Gareth Thomas	Wales (100)   British and Irish Lions (3)	1995–2007	Utility back	[72] [73]
81	102	Jonathan Davies	Wales (96)   British and Irish Lions (6)	2009–2022	Centre
		Jamie George	England (98)   British and Irish Lions (4)	2015-present	Hooker
		Stuart Hogg	Scotland (100)   British and Irish Lions (2)	2012–2023	Fullback
		Stephen Larkham	Australia	1996–2007	Fly-half	[7] [74]
		Percy Montgomery	South Africa	1997–2008	Fullback	[75]
		Alessandro Troncon	Italy	1994–2007	Scrum-half	[7] [76]
87	101	David Campese [a]	Australia	1982–1996	Wing	[77]
		Danny Care	England	2008–2024	Scrum-half
		Keith Earls	Ireland	2008–2023	Wing
		Gonçalo Uva	Portugal	2004–2018	Lock
		Vasco Uva	Portugal	2003–2016	Flanker	[78]
92	100	Valentin Calafeteanu	Romania	2004–2019	Scrum-half
		Giorgi Chkhaidze	Georgia	2002–2017	Number 8
		Andrey Garbuzov	Russia	2005–2020	Flanker
		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	[79]
		Lasha Malaghuradze	Georgia	2008–2023	Fly-half
		Mils Muliaina	New Zealand	2003–2011	Fullback	[80]

Notes

1. Primarily active during rugby's amateur era, before the IRB declared the game "open" to professionalism on 26 August 1995. ^[51]

See also

• List of leading rugby union test try scorers
• List of leading rugby union test point scorers
• List of leading international rugby union drop goal scorers
• International rugby union player records

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External links

• Scrum.com