Pictured is Ireland Women’s young star, Aoife Wafer, who today was awarded the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Women’s XV’s Player of The Year. Ben Brady/INPHO
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'I want to be one of the best in the world. I still have a lot of work to do'
Aoife Wafer has been named 2024 Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Women’s XV Player of the Year.
IT MIGHT SEEM like Aoife Wafer has exploded onto the scene this year with Ireland but her international debut actually came back in the 2022 Six Nations.
The Enniscorthy woman had only just turned 19 when she came off the bench against Wales.
Wafer’s birthday fell a few weeks earlier on the same day Brian O’Driscoll and his daughter Sadie came into Ireland camp to present the jerseys ahead of a game against Wales.
Wafer was injured that week but remembers it as “absolutely insane” to be sitting in the room.
She came on against Italy with a quarter of the game still left and though she was yellow-carded, her first cap will always be a fond memory. After that big high, came a big low.
Just days after her debut, Wafer ruptured her hamstring in training and she wouldn’t play again for Ireland until October 2023 when they took on Spain in their final game of the WXV3 competition in Dubai.
“560 days,” says 21-year-old Wafer, who has been named the 2024 Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Women’s XV Player of the Year at a ceremony in Dublin tonight.
“Fortunately, I got back and it was a very proud moment for myself and my family and unfortunately my grandmother passed away a night or two beforehand. But to be able to get back and for her to know I had got back in the green jersey, it was incredible.
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Wafer after being named player of the game during the Six Nations. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“I know in her last days she kept asking my dad, ‘Is she getting back? How is she getting on in Dubai?’ and right up until her last minutes she was making sure I was getting back in green because it was something she wanted to see as well.
“So it was a very special moment for me and my family.”
Wafer has been doing her family proud ever since. She has rapidly become a totemic player for Ireland in the back row despite her youth, dominating games as Scott Bemand’s side delivered a third-place finish in this year’s Six Nations.
That meant they qualified for the World Cup and this year’s WXV1 in Vancouver. Having warmed up with an impressive win over Australia, they beat New Zealand and the US in the latter competition. Wafer has been outstanding throughout.
“WXV1 with Ireland was, I’d say, out of the blue for other people but we always believed we could get those results,” says Wafer.
“We were always fairly certain that if we followed our steps and what we wanted to do that results will follow that.
“Beating the Black Ferns is a highlight for me in my career, I’d say, for the rest of my life and it’s going to be a day that I look back on very fondly. We came away from that Canadian game [which they lost] and we were a little bit disappointed but getting another win in WXV1 against USA is pretty special.
“So it’s been a pretty big year for Ireland and I’ve just been very lucky and very grateful to have been involved in that.”
Wafer is on track to be one of the star players at next year’s Women’s World Cup, but she refuses to let any acclaim go to her head.
“I’m not a finished product and I don’t think I ever will be, which is the good thing,” she says.
Wafer celebrates the third-place finish in the Six Nations. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“There are areas of my game that I’m not currently happy with.
“I’m looking to get better every day so hopefully in the coming years, if I get another opportunity to pull on a green jersey, I will be able to be better for the team and be better for the country.
“I want to be one of the best in the world and I still have a lot of work to do to be that. I have to keep growing as a person and a player, to keep being curious and asking questions and being vulnerable and seeing my ranking improve and just get back to the graft.”
Many would argue that Wafer is already one of the best in the world. She’s certainly a role model for girls playing rugby in Ireland and while Wafer clearly isn’t someone who seeks the limelight, she’s happy if this Irish team can inspire others.
“You definitely have more kids coming up to you and it’s so cool to be able to be role models for them and to know that they are watching our games and supporting us,” says Wafer.
“We feel the whole country behind us now. It’s pretty special. It’s not that long ago that I was in those kids’ shoes and looking up to the likes of Claire Molloy and Fi Coghlan and all of these absolute stalwarts of Irish women’s rugby.”
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'I want to be one of the best in the world. I still have a lot of work to do'
IT MIGHT SEEM like Aoife Wafer has exploded onto the scene this year with Ireland but her international debut actually came back in the 2022 Six Nations.
The Enniscorthy woman had only just turned 19 when she came off the bench against Wales.
Wafer’s birthday fell a few weeks earlier on the same day Brian O’Driscoll and his daughter Sadie came into Ireland camp to present the jerseys ahead of a game against Wales.
Wafer was injured that week but remembers it as “absolutely insane” to be sitting in the room.
She came on against Italy with a quarter of the game still left and though she was yellow-carded, her first cap will always be a fond memory. After that big high, came a big low.
Just days after her debut, Wafer ruptured her hamstring in training and she wouldn’t play again for Ireland until October 2023 when they took on Spain in their final game of the WXV3 competition in Dubai.
“560 days,” says 21-year-old Wafer, who has been named the 2024 Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Women’s XV Player of the Year at a ceremony in Dublin tonight.
“Fortunately, I got back and it was a very proud moment for myself and my family and unfortunately my grandmother passed away a night or two beforehand. But to be able to get back and for her to know I had got back in the green jersey, it was incredible.
“I know in her last days she kept asking my dad, ‘Is she getting back? How is she getting on in Dubai?’ and right up until her last minutes she was making sure I was getting back in green because it was something she wanted to see as well.
“So it was a very special moment for me and my family.”
Wafer has been doing her family proud ever since. She has rapidly become a totemic player for Ireland in the back row despite her youth, dominating games as Scott Bemand’s side delivered a third-place finish in this year’s Six Nations.
That meant they qualified for the World Cup and this year’s WXV1 in Vancouver. Having warmed up with an impressive win over Australia, they beat New Zealand and the US in the latter competition. Wafer has been outstanding throughout.
“WXV1 with Ireland was, I’d say, out of the blue for other people but we always believed we could get those results,” says Wafer.
“We were always fairly certain that if we followed our steps and what we wanted to do that results will follow that.
“Beating the Black Ferns is a highlight for me in my career, I’d say, for the rest of my life and it’s going to be a day that I look back on very fondly. We came away from that Canadian game [which they lost] and we were a little bit disappointed but getting another win in WXV1 against USA is pretty special.
“So it’s been a pretty big year for Ireland and I’ve just been very lucky and very grateful to have been involved in that.”
Wafer is on track to be one of the star players at next year’s Women’s World Cup, but she refuses to let any acclaim go to her head.
“I’m not a finished product and I don’t think I ever will be, which is the good thing,” she says.
“There are areas of my game that I’m not currently happy with.
“I’m looking to get better every day so hopefully in the coming years, if I get another opportunity to pull on a green jersey, I will be able to be better for the team and be better for the country.
“I want to be one of the best in the world and I still have a lot of work to do to be that. I have to keep growing as a person and a player, to keep being curious and asking questions and being vulnerable and seeing my ranking improve and just get back to the graft.”
Many would argue that Wafer is already one of the best in the world. She’s certainly a role model for girls playing rugby in Ireland and while Wafer clearly isn’t someone who seeks the limelight, she’s happy if this Irish team can inspire others.
“You definitely have more kids coming up to you and it’s so cool to be able to be role models for them and to know that they are watching our games and supporting us,” says Wafer.
“We feel the whole country behind us now. It’s pretty special. It’s not that long ago that I was in those kids’ shoes and looking up to the likes of Claire Molloy and Fi Coghlan and all of these absolute stalwarts of Irish women’s rugby.”
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