It’s Aoife Wafer’s birthday on Tuesday and it really is hard to credit that she’s only turning 22 given all she has already achieved.
Ireland’s Player of the Tournament in last season’s Six Nations and, after scoring twice in the WXV1 win over New Zealand, was named in the World Dream Team at the 2024 World Rugby Awards in Monaco.
“I didn’t even realise it was my birthday until after the game on Saturday,” said Wafer, referring to Ireland’s 27-15 loss to France in the opening game of this year’s Six Nations on Saturday. “I was so focused on France I completely forgot.”
The gap between club and international rugby is widening - here's why it matters
The squad will be preparing for their second game against Italy in Parma on Sunday (kick-off 3pm Irish) and having her birthday in the middle of the tournament restricts celebrations.
But, recalling her 18th birthday three seasons ago, she said it has its benefits too, not least as she shares a birthday with squad captain Edel ‘Tricky’ McMahon.
“Brian O’Driscoll had come in to present jerseys so we had an absolute selection of cakes and Tricky and I were celebrating away the night before the Wales game. It’s pretty cool to have a birthday in the middle of a campaign.”
In her final game as a 21-year-old last Saturday, Wafer made the most carries (17) of any Irish player, won three turnovers, beat three defenders (joint most), scored two of Ireland’s three tries and made 11 tackles (second only to Niamh O’Dowd).
And yet she was a marked woman. Ireland head coach Scott Bemand saying after the game: “You could see they were naming her”.
As befits her style of play Wafer’s attitude is to ‘bring it on’, and even if her red headguard makes her a more identifiable target, which she partly wears to help her grandmother Cathy to pick her out, she has no intention of removing it.
“If they want to put two, three, four people on me to try tackle me I’ve no problem putting a team-mate through a hole and letting them go over because it doesn’t matter who goes over, it doesn’t matter who makes the metres, as long as it’s a good thing for the team.
“If the girls want me to run into three Frenchies I’ve no problem to put my head down and try to burst through a wall.”
On being named by the opposition, she added: “To be honest I can’t even hear my mother when I’m playing down in Blackrock. I’m quite deaf as well, so I’m very bad at hearing stuff.”
The Wexford woman made her Irish debut off the bench soon after her 18th birthday in a 29-8 win over Italy in the 2022 Six Nations at Musgrave Park, before a ruptured hamstring delayed her second cap for over 18 months. She was also part of the team that suffered a second successive defeat to the Azzurri last year.
“Italy are a mixed bag. They have players who are absolutely outstanding. You look at (Beatrice) Rigoni, she’s a phenomenal rugby player, but they are beatable and last year that was a game that got away from us in the RDS.
“It’s something that we fixed because you look at that Italy game and it got away from us. We had a lot of chances to put them away. We had most of the possession and most of the territory, but it was our own mistakes that let Italy into the game, whether that be we gave away a penalty [or] they kicked for the corner and mauled us over. That kind of thing.
“But then you also look at the next result that we had after Italy, which was Wales, and we went out and pummelled Wales because we’re a group that learns fast and that is reflected in our honesty with each other.
“I have played Italy twice and we obviously lost in the RDS last year but in my first cap we also won at a time which probably wasn’t the best for Irish women’s rugby but we got our result.
“It will be interesting but I’m backing our girls.”
♦ Aoife Wafer has been unveiled as Energia’s newest brand ambassador, “further enhancing their commitment to powering the future of Irish rugby”.
