IQ Rugby

IQ Rugby is a programme within the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) to support rugby union players within the Irish diaspora, especially in Great Britain. It was established in 2017 within the high performance pathway for identifying promising young players, as a successor to the Irish Exiles programme begun in 1989. The name IQ stands for "Irish Qualified", meaning qualified under international rugby union eligibility rules to play for Ireland teams, including the men's, women's, men's sevens, and women's sevens.

In the 1990s, an Irish Exiles representative team played in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship against the four domestic provincial selections (Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connacht). This ended after professionalisation, when the four domestic provinces became full-time professional teams rather than selections from amateur club sides. Exiles teams at underage level continued to play against the provinces and others into the 2010s; an under-19 IQ Rugby Team tours Ireland annually playing under-19 provincial teams.