When Andrew Porter heard his name read out at The British & Irish Lions Squad Announcement, it was a familiar feeling.
But the Ireland prop is still waiting to know what it feels like to wear that famous red jersey in the heat of the action.
Now 29, Porter has been named in a Lions squad for the second time, having also made the cut in 2021 as something of a surprise inclusion in Warren Gatland’s squad to take on the Springboks.
At the time, he was playing tighthead prop for Leinster and Ireland and generally backing up Tadhg Furlong in the biggest matches.
He had done enough to catch Gatland’s eye though, only for a toe injury suffered on Leinster duty to force him out of the Tour.
It was a heart-breaking moment for Porter, but Gatland was confident he would get another opportunity.
He said: “Andrew is a young man with a big future ahead of him and I’m sure he’ll be in contention again in four years’ time.”
The New Zealander got that right, with Porter having now switched sides of the scrum to pack down at loosehead, where he has established himself among the world’s very best.
Now a three-time Six Nations champion, including a pair of Grand Slams, Porter stands out for his remarkable engine, contributing massively across the park despite the set-piece demands of his position.
And four years on from the disappointment of that injury, he will be desperate to make up for lost time in Australia this summer.
OPENING UP
On the surface, Porter’s journey to this point looks fairly common. Born in Dublin, he went to St Andrew’s College alongside future Leinster and Ireland teammate Jordan Larmour before breaking into the Leinster academy and playing age-grade rugby for Ireland.
But in 2024, on the Netflix documentary Full Contact, Porter opened up on the fact that he had lost his mother, Wendy, to breast cancer while still at school and the impact it had on him.
He said: “I've struggled with mental health for years. I'm not afraid to say it.
“The day after my mum's funeral, I went straight into secondary school. The timing was incredibly bad. You're starting off in a completely new environment, you don't know anyone, you feel completely on your own, and then...you completely isolate yourself. There were a few incredibly tough years.
“I went through eating disorders and stuff. There were some days where...I might not be here today. Yeah.”
While his background was well-known among the players and staff at Leinster and Ireland, Porter’s decision to open up and speak about it to the wider public was a brave decision.
Reflecting on it in an interview with the Irish Independent, he explained why he felt it was important to show others what he had been through.
He said: “I suppose I do have that sense of openness. I wouldn’t say it’s a duty, but if I’m in a position where I can share a small bit of my life, a small bit of the human side of me that affects everyone in the world.
“Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, unfortunately, and if I can share what’s brought me down in the past in my life and how I’ve risen past that. If that can help someone, it’s hugely powerful.”
In his mother’s honour, he has a tattoo of her name on his arm, while he has also worked as an ambassador for the Irish Cancer Society.
BREAKTHROUGH
On the pitch, Porter’s strength quickly stood out, with his ability to lift weights in the gym putting him in rare company, having already squatted 325kg.
To go with that power, his speed was a point of difference for a prop, and he made it count as he helped Ireland Under-20s to their best-ever finish at a World Rugby Under-20s Championship, reaching the final in 2016.
He did that alongside another 2025 tourist, James Ryan, with the pair quickly kicking on at senior level with Leinster.
Porter settled into life as a tighthead prop, backing up Furlong, and claiming a Champions Cup title in 2018, a year after winning the first of 75 Ireland caps to date.
The Champions Cup title was the second major honour of his career. Earlier that year, he was part of the Ireland team that won the Grand Slam, playing in four games and starting the win over Wales.
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
It quickly became clear that Porter’s potential was through the roof, with the decision taken in 2021 to shift him back to loosehead, where he had played a lot of his youth rugby.
That experience of playing both sides of the scrum at the highest level makes Porter one of the rare modern props capable of packing down at loosehead and tighthead in Tests – a valuable skill on a Lions Tour.
He regularly plays more than an hour for both club and country in matches, an unusually high amount for a prop which is testament both to his value to the team, but also a remarkable ability to keep going where most players his size have nothing left in the tank
Porter played a key role, not only in Ireland’s back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2023 and 2024, but also in the historic series win over New Zealand in 2022.
He was back in the southern hemisphere last summer, as Ireland toured world champions South Africa.
A gruesome hand injury looked to have ended his tour in the first Test, but Porter was able to overcome that and help his team to a series-levelling win in the second.
Speaking of the injury, he told the Times: “I could see the whole inside of my hand. Everyone back home thought I had broken my arm because I was looking down in shock. I had never seen the inside of my hand before.”
Fully fit once more, he has started every game for Ireland going back to the last World Cup, and now has unfinished business with the Lions.
On selection, he said: “It was bittersweet the last time, narrowly missing out on the plane over.
“But I'm delighted really - I'm kind of lost for words - I'm so proud to represent my club, my country and my family, going over to Australia with the Lions.”
