St Andrew's College has made a considerable contribution to rugby in Ireland since the foundation of the college in 1894. The College has had 19 full Ireland rugby Internationals with two past pupils, J.A. Middleton and Jack Gregory, capped for England and R.W. Langrish capped for Scotland. The College also provided the 1959 British and Irish Lions Captain, Ronnie Dawson. Until being forced to retire from playing due to injury, past pupil Ben Marshall was a professional player with Connacht and Felix Jones has captained Munster and represented Ireland.  He is currently one of the Munster coaches.  Four of the 2013-2014 Senior Cup team, Greg Jones, Andrew Porter, Jonny Guy and Jordan Larmour played on the Ireland U18 school team in the European Championships in 2014 with Greg and Andrew representing Ireland on the 2016 U20 World Cup Team - runners up to England.

On 17 March 2018 (St Patrick's Day)  Ireland won the NatWest Six Nations Championship with a grand slam and the team included two recent leavers, Andrew Porter (Class of 2014) and Jordan Larmour (Class of 2016).

The College sees rugby as a core sporting activity for pupils which provides personal development and team values. The philosophy underlying the rugby programme is primarily one of participation, enjoyment and skill development which is age appropriate. It is our objective to foster a commitment to the sport and produce players who wish to continue in the sport beyond their school days.

St Andrew's College is active in aligning our coaching methodology with programmes run by Leinster Rugby and the IRFU. The skill and hard work of the coaches allied with a very extensive strength and conditioning programme provides students with every opportunity to excel in the sport. Cup matches engender a great sense of school spirit and excitement within the student body and the alumni.