From Cap Number #1 in 1993 when we played Scotland in their first ever international more than three hundred players have represented Ireland at 15s and 7s level – many in both codes, some who became Grand Slam Champions or Olympians.

From players of the calibre of Jill Henderson, Aoife Rodgers and Joanne Moore, in the first ever team to Fiona Coghlan, Niamh Briggs and Lucy Mulhall Rock who captained Ireland to famous victories, each will have their place in the history of our game.

A player will often say they are only minding the jersey, hoping to pass it on one day to another who will leave their mark, but their cap and their cap number are part of their personal rugby story as well as that of the game.

In acknowledging those players today, the IRFU reaffirms a commitment to Women’s Rugby that reflects the importance of past contributions and builds a pathway to the future of the sport.

The process of collating the cap numbers has been in-depth and involved incredible work digging through the archives of old match reports, news articles, match programmes, individual player memorabilia and data from IRFU, World Rugby, Six Nations, and Rugby Europe.

The expertise of renowned rugby statistician Stuart Farmer was an essential part of creatin the list accurately. Building on work done by Orla Fullam Smith and Nora Stapleton in their time with the IRFU, and with help from current IRFU staff including Lynne Cantwell, Barry Cunningham and Carl O’Brien, every available source was consulted to ensure an accurate reflection of when a player was first capped.

The insight and experience of noted Irish Rugby historian Feargal O’Rourke was invaluable in aligning the process with best practice and with similar records in the Men’s game.

Every effort has been made to unearth details of each match, ensuring the status as a capped game and confirming whether an uncapped replacement made a 79th minute appearance or not.