THE IRFU HAVE announced Andrew Porter as the latest Irish men’s international to be tied down to a renewed central contract. 

Porter has renewed terms with Leinster and the IRFU until the end of the 2024/25 season. 

“It is a really exciting time for Irish Rugby with both Ireland and Leinster in a good place and with ambition to get better, said Porter. “It was fantastic to have crowds back in the stadiums over the past couple of months and it makes a huge difference to the players on the field.  Hopefully we will be back to full stadia in the months ahead.”

Porter made his international debut against the US Eagles in the summer of 2017, and has since won 40 caps for Ireland. The bulk of these caps were won as tighthead prop, but he switched across to loosehead during the summer, starting all three of Ireland’s November internationals in that position. 

Perhaps in recognition of his importance as Ireland’s starting loosehead, this is his first central contract. 

Porter was initially selected in the 2021 Lions squad but withdrew with injury. 

Announcement of Porter’s contract renewal follows a day after confirmation that Conor Murray has committed his future until the end of the 2024 season, while Garry Ringrose signed a new three-year deal with the IRFU earlier this month. Porter’s front-row partner Tadhg Furlong has also committed pen to paper on a central contract of the same length, stretching up to the end of the 2025 season. 

“Andrew worked incredibly hard to transition from loosehead to the tighthead role and has shown the same dedication and application to revert back in recent months”, said David Nucifora, the IRFU’s Performance Director. “He has proven his credentials on the tighthead side and took a big step during November to show that he can be a force at international level on the loosehead side.  It will be exciting to see how his career progresses over the coming seasons.”