Tom Court - Ireland's accidental Lion

The Counter Ruck: The Irish Times Rugby Podcast · Jun 26, 2025 · 40m

Lions tours are full of stories of players being called up last minute, dashing across the world to get an opportunity to pull on the red jersey. Former Ireland prop Tom Court has as good a story as anyone, tucking into a takeaway in his native Queensland before being summoned to Melbourne as the 2013 Lions faced a mini-propping crisis.

Given it’s 12 years on from that tour, this is as good an opportunity as any to hear from Court. As much as this is a Lions chat, though, it turns into a fascinating analysis of Irish props and scrums.

How did Court, who didn’t play rugby until the age of 23…