AS EXCITEMENT LEVELS soared at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup opening ceremony in Sunderland, Aoife Wafer was in Dublin on ice.
Literally and metaphorically.
Ireland’s star back row was watching from afar, doing everything in her power to recover from a knee injury which required surgery in the weeks prior.
“When the girls were at the opening ceremony, I was sitting in one of the IRFU houses on a Game Ready [ice machine], looking at all the photos and videos come through, and I was like that’s it,” Wafer recalls.
“It’s your first World Cup, it’s something that you want to do, and to be sitting at home in the thick of it… at that stage I was probably running, but I probably wasn’t very comfortable. I’m doing everything I can to push my body to the extreme.
“You’re doing physio sessions for hours and hours, and you just want to be out with the girls, and you want to experience a proper World Cup, but at the end of the day it’s what I had to do, and that’s just my World Cup journey.”
It was a unique one, to say the least.
One navigated under the spotlight as she won her fitness battle to make it back for a quarter-final showdown against France – but one that ended in disappointment and pain and controversy.
Four months on, Wafer sits in a dressing room in the IRFU High Performance Centre reflecting on it all with The 42.
It’s a crisp January afternoon and Ireland have convened for a three-day training camp as the 2026 Women’s Six Nations looms large. The end of one chapter, the beginning of another. But the memories remain.
******
The World Cup opener against Japan understandably threw up mixed emotions. Wafer arrived just before the game, and shifted uncomfortably in her seat at Franklin’s Gardens. Doubt crept in momentarily.
Having torn her MCL and gone under the knife five weeks beforehand, the 23-year-old had been confident she’d get back to play some part in the World Cup.
Wafer putting in the work in the gym in Brighton. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
She had full faith in the “world-class” medical team of Ed Mias and Emma Galvin, and the plan they had in place, and that didn’t ever waver watching training.
But this was different.
The pace, the power, the bone-shuddering hits of a game. And not just any game.
Maybe it would be too big of an ask. Perhaps the risk of cutting her rehabilitation so short wouldn’t work out.
“Watching that first game was the very first time that I was (unsure),” says Wafer.
“I was like, ‘Right someone’s gonna have to hit my knee.’ I could barely walk properly, how am I going to get out onto a pitch and be able to run full speed, and do collisions like I wanted to?
“Once that game was over, I’m a bit of a rugby nerd, and I went home, watched more rugby, and I was like, ‘Nah, I’m actually grand. I don’t know what I was thinking, I know that there’s a plan.’”
The road to that point had been lonely. Endless physio sessions. Hours upon hours of rehab. Any spare minute spent icing, compressing, watching rugby. Anything to better herself and the team.
And so it continued.
The Wexford woman worked with an external coach on drills and progressions as she moved through the gears. Opponents were analysed, basics practised, scenarios replayed in her head over and over until she could train fully.
It was all-consuming, an obsession. A mental and physical battle for which a one-track mind was needed.
“For me during that period, it was literally, ‘Right, if I can’t train, what can I do right now that when I do get onto the pitch – or if I get onto the pitch – that I am at my absolute best?’
“Those little bits that you do when no one’s watching is what got me to be able to get out of my head, and just be able to play rugby. You have to just put yourself into a place that you know that you’ve put the work in, so you just have to trust it.
Training with physio Ed Mias. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“Before the World Cup, I hadn’t played since Wales (in the Six Nations in April) because I had a separate knee injury, so it had been a couple of months that I’d not played really any rugby. Essentially you’re going in cold. But at the end of the day if you prepare yourself enough, then you’re prepared. For mme,it was literally do everything I can physically and mentally to be able to perform on a pitch.
“I never use the excuse of, ‘Ah, I’m just back from an injury,’ because personally I think I can prepare myself enough to be able to perform. I’m not coming back from an injury to be ready to play, I’m being ready to perform. That’s always my goal coming back from an injury. I have to be my best on the pitch, because of the goals that I have.”
Wafer often speaks about her main one: to be the best in the world.
She’s certainly going about it the right way. 2025 Six Nations Player of the Championship and 2024 World Rugby XV Team of the Year inclusion are among her many honours, while she earned a move to Premiership Women’s Rugby heavyweights Harlequins last year.
Expectation and interest come with the territory. Eyes and pressure.
Wafer Watch was a staple throughout the tournament, with media speculation and outside noise rife. How is she getting on? When will she be back? Will she make it at all?
Some players shut it out and stay offline. Others read and listen to every word.
“Well I don’t think there was any blocking it out because with social media, everything pops up on your phone sometimes,” Wafer admits.
“It was nearly a joke between me and a few players. As Irish people, we like to take the mick out of each other. We all knew that when coaches or players went into a media conference, the first question that was asked wasn’t about the game, it was about whether I’d play this week. It kind of became a joke between the players.
Wafer (second from right) with her teammates before the France game. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“At the end of the day, I think there was only once where I had let it frustrate me, but other than that, I knew what I had to do to be able to play. To me, it wasn’t a race, it was just a matter of time before I got back out on the pitch.”
She chooses not to elaborate on the time it irritated her.
“Nearly disappointed” she wasn’t selected for the pool games against Spain or New Zealand, while fully knowing she wouldn’t play, the call finally came for France.
Knockout rugby. Do or die.
The team goal was to get to London, and Scott Bemand’s side had to beat Les Bleues to do so. Wafer’s return was a major boost after a 40-0 defeat to the Black Ferns, and Irish hopes were high. With other stars Erin King and Dorothy Wall ruled out completely, they finally had their ace to play.
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The sight of the red scrum cap alone brought an immediate lift, and her presence on the pitch was huge as Ireland stormed into a 13-0 half-time lead in Exeter. But they wouldn’t score again as France finished up 18-13 winners.
Wafer played the full game through the pain barrier, suffering a broken collarbone and re-torn MCL. She was also at the centre of a biting incident, which went unpunished at the time but France back row Axelle Berthoumieu later received a 12-match ban.
Wafer has spoken about that at length so no need to go over old ground, but with time and space, how does she reflect on the quarter-final disappointment?
“Honestly, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about that game. It’s a game that I think will live with me for a very long time.
“I had put my body through hell to get back for it, and I had one job, and I felt like I didn’t do that job – and I’m sure a lot of the girls would feel the same, having done years of work for this one game, and all of a sudden the game doesn’t go your way. It’s a frustrating one.
Wafer with her mother, Sam, after the France defeat. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We had our World Cup debrief there yesterday, the first day of camp. You look at the games and key match stats. The box is either green, red or orange – green means that’s a good thing, that you’ve bet the opposition in whatever the stat was. All those boxes for that French game were green, green, green, green, but we lost it still. It’s one of those games that got away, and it’s one of those games that you don’t ever forget.”
The comedown was horrendous, the rebuild still a work in progress.
“The first thing that’s said when you get home is, ‘Well done. We were with you, well done,’” Wafer adds. “How do you take that when you’ve lost one of the biggest games of your career? It was a difficult thing to kind of process, and to be honest I’d say I’m probably still processing it every day.
“But one of the big positives that you have to take from it is we’ve grown our Green Wave, and there’s thousands of young girls and boys who now pick up a rugby ball because they’ve seen us on the telly.”
******
Life moves fast, sport even quicker. Having signed for Harlequins in May, Wafer uprooted and moved to the famed London club shortly after the World Cup.
Nursing those injuries sustained against France, she had to wait until December to make her debut in a 22-17 win over Sale Sharks at the Stoop – followed quickly by a first start and a big performance in a 38-12 victory against Bristol Bears at Twickenham.
In the interim, Wafer settled into her new surroundings. She transferred her physiotherapy degree from UCD to St Mary’s University Twickenham, and lives in rather unique player accommodation with Wales co-captain Alex Callender and Spanish legend Laura ‘Bimba’ Delgado.
“There’s four cottages and three players per house,” Wafer explains, listing out some of the great and good of international women’s rugby from England World Cup winner Lucy Packer to Canada’s Sara Svoboda and Maja Mueller of Sweden.
“All of these absolutely brilliant names, and we’re all just living out in the middle of nowhere in these cottages. It’s a brilliant little situation we have.
“You’re never really left alone! We’re very close. It’s a mix of different personalities, different nationalities, and we all learn off each other, but we know how to just have a bit of craic and unwind from rugby too.”
Taking a selfie with a fan after the Bristol win in December. Cat Goryn / INPHO
Cat Goryn / INPHO / INPHO
Whether that’s gatherings over cups of tea, playing musical instruments, or photography, Wafer strikes a balance. So too with sport and education: study in the morning, train in the afternoon. This new chapter is an enjoyable one.
“The only time I kind of found it a bit difficult was that first week, because there’s so many new things – new college, new club, new people. I was still injured, so I couldn’t train properly.
“You’re put in a situation where you don’t know anybody, you’re not with your family, you’re in an unfamiliar setting, you don’t know what the craic is with medical teams because you’re just in the door.
“That first week was difficult, but the girls just straight away put an arm around me and were like, ‘You’re one of us now.’ From day dot I just felt like I was a Quin, and then thankfully I was able to eventually get a jersey on me.”
Wafer has made quite the impression in her limited game time to date, unleashing some big hits, and hopes to continue doing so as Harlequins return after the PWR winter break with a trip to Trailfinders on Friday.
Quins sit third, 12 points behind joint leaders Saracens and Gloucester-Hartpury with 10 games remaining before semi-finals and finals. Wafer marvels at the standards and interest levels in a league which comprises “the best players in the world”.
“I’m fortunate enough to play with World Cup winners like Ellie Kildunne and Lucy Packer, and then you’ve a load of other players who are just stalwarts for their nations too. It’s just brilliant to play alongside them, but it puts on a show for fans as well.”
World Cup winner and BBC Sports Personality of the Year runner-up Ellie Kildunne is her teammate at Harlequins. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
She name checks back rows Jade Konkel (Scotland) and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u (New Zealand) as others she is learning from at Quins, but reminds us how it works both ways.
”You get a small insight into how each nation has their own standards or their own preparations going into different games or trainings. It’s really cool to get that insight.
“To pick their brains on different aspects of the game is huge. If I can keep kind of nitpicking bits and add it to my own game then it’ll benefit me, but hopefully they can learn a few things from me while I’m out there too.”
******
With a twinkle in her eye, Wafer can’t help herself as she looks ahead to the French reunion in the Six Nations.
“I’m sure there’ll be an extra bit of, I was gonna say bite to this game, but I can’t really say that, can I?! An extra bit of spice to the game this year.”
She laughs while gathering her thoughts. “You can put the bite in if you want – an extra bit of bite to this year’s game, yeah!”
Saturday 25 April is circled in the diary for the away fixture, but the opener against England in Twickenham two weeks prior comes first.
The countdown is on, the amount of days and ticket sales rolling off Wafer’s tongue as she looks ahead: 71 days from today, and 50,000 tickets as per the Red Roses’ last update.
“It’s incredibly exciting to play in front of that sort of crowd and hopefully stick it a little bit to the world champions,” she says. “We’ve three extremely exciting games in Ireland. Playing in the Dexcom, and then bookending it with the Aviva Stadium.”
Wafer in full flow against France. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
When asked about the ambition for the tournament, Wafer doesn’t hesitate.
“To do better than last year. You can’t sit and look at third place any more, I think it’s about breaking into the next tier, isn’t it? I think teams are wary of us now, we’re not really a surprise any more. I think it’s about going after those tier one nations.”
The picture will be clearer by closing day against Scotland at the Aviva on Sunday 17 May. It’s set to be a historic occasion as Ireland play a standalone women’s international at Lansdowne Road for the first time.
The Dublin 4 venue did host a Six Nations win over Italy in 2014, but that was part of a double-header with their male counterparts. The women take centre stage here, and it is the stuff of dreams for Wafer and co.
“A very small Aoife Wafer was at that 2014 game,” she beams.
“I have a picture of the big smiley head on me looking out onto the field, and all these stalwarts on the pitch behind me. I still think I have the matchday programme and the ticket in my bedroom, signed by a rake of the players.
“To get that opportunity to run out 12 years later is something that little Aoife definitely would have dreamed of.”
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'I had put my body through hell to get back, and I had one job - I felt like I didn't do that job'
AS EXCITEMENT LEVELS soared at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup opening ceremony in Sunderland, Aoife Wafer was in Dublin on ice.
Literally and metaphorically.
Ireland’s star back row was watching from afar, doing everything in her power to recover from a knee injury which required surgery in the weeks prior.
“When the girls were at the opening ceremony, I was sitting in one of the IRFU houses on a Game Ready [ice machine], looking at all the photos and videos come through, and I was like that’s it,” Wafer recalls.
“It’s your first World Cup, it’s something that you want to do, and to be sitting at home in the thick of it… at that stage I was probably running, but I probably wasn’t very comfortable. I’m doing everything I can to push my body to the extreme.
“You’re doing physio sessions for hours and hours, and you just want to be out with the girls, and you want to experience a proper World Cup, but at the end of the day it’s what I had to do, and that’s just my World Cup journey.”
It was a unique one, to say the least.
One navigated under the spotlight as she won her fitness battle to make it back for a quarter-final showdown against France – but one that ended in disappointment and pain and controversy.
Four months on, Wafer sits in a dressing room in the IRFU High Performance Centre reflecting on it all with The 42.
It’s a crisp January afternoon and Ireland have convened for a three-day training camp as the 2026 Women’s Six Nations looms large. The end of one chapter, the beginning of another. But the memories remain.
******
The World Cup opener against Japan understandably threw up mixed emotions. Wafer arrived just before the game, and shifted uncomfortably in her seat at Franklin’s Gardens. Doubt crept in momentarily.
Having torn her MCL and gone under the knife five weeks beforehand, the 23-year-old had been confident she’d get back to play some part in the World Cup.
She had full faith in the “world-class” medical team of Ed Mias and Emma Galvin, and the plan they had in place, and that didn’t ever waver watching training.
But this was different.
The pace, the power, the bone-shuddering hits of a game. And not just any game.
Maybe it would be too big of an ask. Perhaps the risk of cutting her rehabilitation so short wouldn’t work out.
“Watching that first game was the very first time that I was (unsure),” says Wafer.
“I was like, ‘Right someone’s gonna have to hit my knee.’ I could barely walk properly, how am I going to get out onto a pitch and be able to run full speed, and do collisions like I wanted to?
“Once that game was over, I’m a bit of a rugby nerd, and I went home, watched more rugby, and I was like, ‘Nah, I’m actually grand. I don’t know what I was thinking, I know that there’s a plan.’”
The road to that point had been lonely. Endless physio sessions. Hours upon hours of rehab. Any spare minute spent icing, compressing, watching rugby. Anything to better herself and the team.
And so it continued.
The Wexford woman worked with an external coach on drills and progressions as she moved through the gears. Opponents were analysed, basics practised, scenarios replayed in her head over and over until she could train fully.
It was all-consuming, an obsession. A mental and physical battle for which a one-track mind was needed.
“For me during that period, it was literally, ‘Right, if I can’t train, what can I do right now that when I do get onto the pitch – or if I get onto the pitch – that I am at my absolute best?’
“Those little bits that you do when no one’s watching is what got me to be able to get out of my head, and just be able to play rugby. You have to just put yourself into a place that you know that you’ve put the work in, so you just have to trust it.
“Before the World Cup, I hadn’t played since Wales (in the Six Nations in April) because I had a separate knee injury, so it had been a couple of months that I’d not played really any rugby. Essentially you’re going in cold. But at the end of the day if you prepare yourself enough, then you’re prepared. For mme,it was literally do everything I can physically and mentally to be able to perform on a pitch.
“I never use the excuse of, ‘Ah, I’m just back from an injury,’ because personally I think I can prepare myself enough to be able to perform. I’m not coming back from an injury to be ready to play, I’m being ready to perform. That’s always my goal coming back from an injury. I have to be my best on the pitch, because of the goals that I have.”
Wafer often speaks about her main one: to be the best in the world.
She’s certainly going about it the right way. 2025 Six Nations Player of the Championship and 2024 World Rugby XV Team of the Year inclusion are among her many honours, while she earned a move to Premiership Women’s Rugby heavyweights Harlequins last year.
Expectation and interest come with the territory. Eyes and pressure.
Wafer Watch was a staple throughout the tournament, with media speculation and outside noise rife. How is she getting on? When will she be back? Will she make it at all?
Some players shut it out and stay offline. Others read and listen to every word.
“Well I don’t think there was any blocking it out because with social media, everything pops up on your phone sometimes,” Wafer admits.
“It was nearly a joke between me and a few players. As Irish people, we like to take the mick out of each other. We all knew that when coaches or players went into a media conference, the first question that was asked wasn’t about the game, it was about whether I’d play this week. It kind of became a joke between the players.
“At the end of the day, I think there was only once where I had let it frustrate me, but other than that, I knew what I had to do to be able to play. To me, it wasn’t a race, it was just a matter of time before I got back out on the pitch.”
She chooses not to elaborate on the time it irritated her.
“Nearly disappointed” she wasn’t selected for the pool games against Spain or New Zealand, while fully knowing she wouldn’t play, the call finally came for France.
Knockout rugby. Do or die.
The team goal was to get to London, and Scott Bemand’s side had to beat Les Bleues to do so. Wafer’s return was a major boost after a 40-0 defeat to the Black Ferns, and Irish hopes were high. With other stars Erin King and Dorothy Wall ruled out completely, they finally had their ace to play.
The sight of the red scrum cap alone brought an immediate lift, and her presence on the pitch was huge as Ireland stormed into a 13-0 half-time lead in Exeter. But they wouldn’t score again as France finished up 18-13 winners.
Wafer played the full game through the pain barrier, suffering a broken collarbone and re-torn MCL. She was also at the centre of a biting incident, which went unpunished at the time but France back row Axelle Berthoumieu later received a 12-match ban.
Wafer has spoken about that at length so no need to go over old ground, but with time and space, how does she reflect on the quarter-final disappointment?
“Honestly, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about that game. It’s a game that I think will live with me for a very long time.
“I had put my body through hell to get back for it, and I had one job, and I felt like I didn’t do that job – and I’m sure a lot of the girls would feel the same, having done years of work for this one game, and all of a sudden the game doesn’t go your way. It’s a frustrating one.
“We had our World Cup debrief there yesterday, the first day of camp. You look at the games and key match stats. The box is either green, red or orange – green means that’s a good thing, that you’ve bet the opposition in whatever the stat was. All those boxes for that French game were green, green, green, green, but we lost it still. It’s one of those games that got away, and it’s one of those games that you don’t ever forget.”
The comedown was horrendous, the rebuild still a work in progress.
“The first thing that’s said when you get home is, ‘Well done. We were with you, well done,’” Wafer adds. “How do you take that when you’ve lost one of the biggest games of your career? It was a difficult thing to kind of process, and to be honest I’d say I’m probably still processing it every day.
“But one of the big positives that you have to take from it is we’ve grown our Green Wave, and there’s thousands of young girls and boys who now pick up a rugby ball because they’ve seen us on the telly.”
******
Life moves fast, sport even quicker. Having signed for Harlequins in May, Wafer uprooted and moved to the famed London club shortly after the World Cup.
Nursing those injuries sustained against France, she had to wait until December to make her debut in a 22-17 win over Sale Sharks at the Stoop – followed quickly by a first start and a big performance in a 38-12 victory against Bristol Bears at Twickenham.
In the interim, Wafer settled into her new surroundings. She transferred her physiotherapy degree from UCD to St Mary’s University Twickenham, and lives in rather unique player accommodation with Wales co-captain Alex Callender and Spanish legend Laura ‘Bimba’ Delgado.
“There’s four cottages and three players per house,” Wafer explains, listing out some of the great and good of international women’s rugby from England World Cup winner Lucy Packer to Canada’s Sara Svoboda and Maja Mueller of Sweden.
“All of these absolutely brilliant names, and we’re all just living out in the middle of nowhere in these cottages. It’s a brilliant little situation we have.
“You’re never really left alone! We’re very close. It’s a mix of different personalities, different nationalities, and we all learn off each other, but we know how to just have a bit of craic and unwind from rugby too.”
Whether that’s gatherings over cups of tea, playing musical instruments, or photography, Wafer strikes a balance. So too with sport and education: study in the morning, train in the afternoon. This new chapter is an enjoyable one.
“The only time I kind of found it a bit difficult was that first week, because there’s so many new things – new college, new club, new people. I was still injured, so I couldn’t train properly.
“You’re put in a situation where you don’t know anybody, you’re not with your family, you’re in an unfamiliar setting, you don’t know what the craic is with medical teams because you’re just in the door.
“That first week was difficult, but the girls just straight away put an arm around me and were like, ‘You’re one of us now.’ From day dot I just felt like I was a Quin, and then thankfully I was able to eventually get a jersey on me.”
Wafer has made quite the impression in her limited game time to date, unleashing some big hits, and hopes to continue doing so as Harlequins return after the PWR winter break with a trip to Trailfinders on Friday.
Quins sit third, 12 points behind joint leaders Saracens and Gloucester-Hartpury with 10 games remaining before semi-finals and finals. Wafer marvels at the standards and interest levels in a league which comprises “the best players in the world”.
“I’m fortunate enough to play with World Cup winners like Ellie Kildunne and Lucy Packer, and then you’ve a load of other players who are just stalwarts for their nations too. It’s just brilliant to play alongside them, but it puts on a show for fans as well.”
She name checks back rows Jade Konkel (Scotland) and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u (New Zealand) as others she is learning from at Quins, but reminds us how it works both ways.
”You get a small insight into how each nation has their own standards or their own preparations going into different games or trainings. It’s really cool to get that insight.
“To pick their brains on different aspects of the game is huge. If I can keep kind of nitpicking bits and add it to my own game then it’ll benefit me, but hopefully they can learn a few things from me while I’m out there too.”
******
With a twinkle in her eye, Wafer can’t help herself as she looks ahead to the French reunion in the Six Nations.
“I’m sure there’ll be an extra bit of, I was gonna say bite to this game, but I can’t really say that, can I?! An extra bit of spice to the game this year.”
She laughs while gathering her thoughts. “You can put the bite in if you want – an extra bit of bite to this year’s game, yeah!”
Saturday 25 April is circled in the diary for the away fixture, but the opener against England in Twickenham two weeks prior comes first.
The countdown is on, the amount of days and ticket sales rolling off Wafer’s tongue as she looks ahead: 71 days from today, and 50,000 tickets as per the Red Roses’ last update.
“It’s incredibly exciting to play in front of that sort of crowd and hopefully stick it a little bit to the world champions,” she says. “We’ve three extremely exciting games in Ireland. Playing in the Dexcom, and then bookending it with the Aviva Stadium.”
When asked about the ambition for the tournament, Wafer doesn’t hesitate.
“To do better than last year. You can’t sit and look at third place any more, I think it’s about breaking into the next tier, isn’t it? I think teams are wary of us now, we’re not really a surprise any more. I think it’s about going after those tier one nations.”
The picture will be clearer by closing day against Scotland at the Aviva on Sunday 17 May. It’s set to be a historic occasion as Ireland play a standalone women’s international at Lansdowne Road for the first time.
The Dublin 4 venue did host a Six Nations win over Italy in 2014, but that was part of a double-header with their male counterparts. The women take centre stage here, and it is the stuff of dreams for Wafer and co.
“A very small Aoife Wafer was at that 2014 game,” she beams.
“I have a picture of the big smiley head on me looking out onto the field, and all these stalwarts on the pitch behind me. I still think I have the matchday programme and the ticket in my bedroom, signed by a rake of the players.
“To get that opportunity to run out 12 years later is something that little Aoife definitely would have dreamed of.”
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