THE INSTINCTIVE NATURE of Aoife Wafer’s play is a good hint that she grew up living and breathing rugby.
Another player of the match performance in Ireland’s impressive win 36-10 win against Australia in Belfast on Saturday underlined that 21-year-old Wafer is a serious talent.
Still just eight caps into her Test career, the dynamic back row is already a key player for an Irish side that looks increasingly well-coached under Scott Bemand and his experienced staff.
Wafer started rugby at the age of six with Gorey RFC, playing with the boys until she was 12, later moved to Enniscorthy RFC, and went on to captain the Ireland U18s, playing international 15s and 7s at that level.
She then swiftly came through the senior Leinster ranks and made her senior Ireland debut at the age of 19 in the 2022 Six Nations before a hamstring rupture slowed her up. But having recovered from that nasty injury, Blackrock back row Wafer’s rise has continued.
Wafer – whose younger sister, Orla, has also played for Ireland at underage level – was one of the standout players in this year’s Six Nations, more than earning her place on the four-woman shortlist for the official award.
And last weekend, Wafer picked up where she left off in that campaign as she scored two tries in an all-action performance.
Despite being positioned out in the 15-metre channels as part of Ireland’s attacking shape, a role that sometimes means a forward’s total number of ball carries can be diminished, Wafer was her team’s busiest carrier with 20.
That high total was helped by Ireland playing with width but also how Bemand’s side used Wafer from the number eight slot off scrums, rather than on the blindside flank, as they did earlier this year.
It’s a smart ploy because of Wafer’s rapid acceleration, which allows her to burst out of the blocks off the base of the scrum.
Wafer positions herself ideally to break off the scrum by changing her bind immediately after the ball has been fed into the scrum. Watch below how she shifts channels at the back of the scrum.
This means that as Ireland hook the ball down that left-hand side of the scrum in ‘channel one,’ Wafer can reach in and scoop it up before breaking as quickly as possible, thereby catching the Australians off guard as they focus on scrummaging.
We have seen players penalised for what Wafer is doing here. The law book states that “all players’ binding is maintained for the duration of the scrum” with a penalty sanction for failure to do so. A ‘bind’ requires “the whole arm [to be] in contact from hand to shoulder.
Wafer is momentarily unbound as she switches channels but given that this happened at all but one of Ireland’s seven scrums in this game, the match officials were clearly content with the movement.
Wafer picks and carries as early as she can, bursting outside and beyond Australia scrum-half Natalie Wright, who is appealing to the referee about the scrum as Wafer breaks off.
Wafer accelerates into and through the tackle of Aussie out-half Faitala Moleka, who fails to hold her, bouncing back up onto her feet and driving her legs to make another five metres before she’s finally hauled down.
It’s a huge gainline win for Ireland on first phase. Wafer has a habit of earning lots of post-contact metres, meaning she often makes more ground after the first contact from a defender.
There was frustration for Wafer from another scrum later in the game as a knock-on saw a possible Ireland try chalked off.
Picking the ball from the number eight slot at scrum time is an underrated skill but Wafer has proven more than capable.
She showed more of her power for her first-half try as she finished from close-range off a lovely Dannah O’Brien pass after Ireland cleverly bounced back to their left following two carries to the right from a lineout.
Out-half O’Brien is a threat to the line herself here so as she straightens up after receiving the ball, delaying her pass, she ensures Wallaroos hooker Ashley Marsters fully commits to tackling her.
That means the next defender outside, flanker Siokapesi Palu, has to be accurate and powerful if she’s to stop Ireland from scoring.
Palu initially has to worry about whether Marsters will actually get to O’Brien as Ireland swing back to the Aussies’ right, so Palu’s head is turned in to keep a close eye on O’Brien even as she is concerned with Wafer in front of her.
Ireland centre Aoife Dalton [green below] has swung from right to left out the back of Wafer [blue] to give O’Brien another option, making life even more difficult for Australia.
O’Brien recognises the relative weakness of Palu’s inside shoulder here, as does Wafer so she subtly straightens her line to accelerate onto O’Brien’s delayed pass.
Palu does make a tackle but she’s soaking up the contact as Wafer smashes her way over to finish emphatically.
The Irish blindside demonstrated her handling skill in this game too, with 10 passes and three offloads on top of all the ball-carrying.
This was a slick inside pass to reward high work-rate from Eve Higgins to get onto Wafer’s shoulder.
Forwards who are positioned out in the 15-metre channels as part of their team’s attacking framework must have good handling skills to go along with their dynamism. Wafer ticks that box.
She has a good feel for the game on both sides of the ball, as demonstrated through this offload in the opening seconds of the game.
Wafer recognises the threat of a choke tackle here, which would mean a scrum to Australia, but instead of trying to fight down onto the ground – sometimes an impossible task – she fights up as lock Ruth Campbell does a good job of ‘tackling the tackler.’
Campbell, who had an excellent game, could easily latch onto Wafer here and try to drive her forward, but instead she wraps around tackler Eva Karpani.
That destabilises Karpani, reducing the chance of her completely tying the ball up.
All the while, Wafer is fighting upwards to free the ball and she then calmly flicks it back to Ireland scrum-half Molly Scufful-McCabe.
Wafer’s second try in this game saw her finish delightful Irish effort as they showed a clinical edge in transition after replacement fullback Stacey Flood fielded an Australian exit kick close to the left touchline.
Flood sets off infield initially and retreating wing Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe [red below] seems to be signalling for her to get towards the middle of the pitch as Ireland look to build an attack.
But Flood recognises that if she can beat the primary chaser, Wallaroos wing Maya Stewart, there’s lots of space in behind her.
It’s a very 7s-esque situation and, handily enough, Flood is one of Ireland’s best 7s players so she backs herself to go after this space.
Having made an initial dart infield, Flood steps back off her right foot and intuitively transfers the ball into her left hand, keeping her right hand free to fend.
As we see below, that proves important as Flood’s right-hand fend helps to keep Stewart away from completing a solid tackle.
Stewart desperately clings onto Flood’s right hand, with the Irish fullback showing great balance and strength to drag Stewart along the ground, all the while aware of the next two Aussie defenders closing in.
Watch how Murphy Crowe stays alive for the offload here too, rather than setting up to hit a breakdown. Again, the 7s instincts of the prolific Murphy Crowe are strong.
Flood’s superb work, offloading one-handed just before she’s smashed, means three Australian defenders are out of the equation and Murphy Crowe accelerates away upfield.
Murphy Crowe is comfortable in space and she shows her composure to cut an angle infield, drawing Arabella McKenzie with her, to open up space for Wafer to surge into off the switch pass.
It’s smoothly done from Murphy Crowe and the try looks likely even if Moleka is working across the backfield for Australia.
Many coaches like to see players in Wafer’s situation get the ball into their outside arm in case they need to fend the last defender, but the Wexford woman finishes confidently by dummying to step inside and instead bursting further outside Moleka.
The confidence is as notable as anything, this finish coming just minutes after Wafer’s knock-on at the scrum.
It’s an excellent try from Ireland as they show their ability to score on first phase in transition from defence to attack.
Wafer’s impact on this game was not limited to when Ireland had the ball. She completed all nine of her tackle attempts and earned two trademark jackal turnovers.
Wafer is a real defensive weapon at the breakdown, combining strength, technique, timing, and a good feel for the game to come up with crucial poaches.
In the first instance, Wafer shows her defensive mobility as she defends out on the right edge against opposite number Palu.
Wafer does a good job of tracking Palu, meaning right wing Vicky Elmes Kinlan can just focus on her job of tackling Aussie wing Desirée Miller, rather than having to bite in on Palu.
And that means that as Elmes Kinlan hauls Miller to ground, Wafer can pounce for the turnover.
It’s beautiful work as Wafer shoves Miller to help get her down, then swings her legs in behind on Ireland’s side at the same time as her hands are snapping down onto the ball.
The sheer accuracy from Wafer having moved cross-pitch at high speed is impressive, with that swinging motion leaving her in a legal position attacking the ball from Ireland’s side, while her hands never hit the ground to balance her.
With Elmes Kinlan bouncing back up to her feet to offer another touch of stability to Wafer, the arriving Australians are unable to shift the Irish flanker and the penalty is duly awarded.
Her second turnover was clean – no penalty this time – and again highlighted Wafer’s keen sense for the opportunity and her speed of action.
This turnover comes on kick chase as Wafer hunts with Ireland openside and captain Edel McMahon.
It’s a superb tackle from McMahon that allows Wafer to make such a clean steal.
As highlighted below, McMahon’s aggressive left-shoulder hit on Lori Cramer sees her land on top of the Australian fullback, who is left on her back.
Ball carriers want to avoid being in this position, with the ball so exposed to jackals such as Wafer.
It’s an excellent combination from McMahon and Wafer to deliver one of Ireland’s total of six breakdown steals in this game, a pleasing return for new defence coach Hugh Hogan.
And it’s another example of how Wafer has been seamlessly fitting her excellent individual skills and athleticism into the team around her.
Just eight caps in, Wafer is already a totemic figure for this Ireland side.
