Aoife Wafer in race to be fit for Ireland's Rugby World Cup campaign

The 42

3 days ago

IRELAND HAVE BEEN dealt another significant injury blow ahead of the Women's Rugby World Cup, with news that Aoife Wafer has suffered a knee injury.
Wafer has undergone a procedure and while it is hoped she will return at some point during the World Cup, she is now in a race to be fit for Ireland's pool fixtures, with the back rower expected to miss the World Cup warm-up games against Scotland (2 August) and Canada (9 August).
Ireland open their World Cup campaign against Japan in Northampton on 24 August, before games against Spain (31 August) and New Zealand (7 September).
Wafer has been one of Ireland's standout players over the last 12 months and was named Six Nations Player of the Championship earlier this year.
The injury is not a recurrence of the knee problem which ruled the Wexford native out of the final round of this year's Six Nations, but will keep the Harlequins player sidelined for a number of weeks.
'She's had a procedure. It won't keep her out of the World Cup,' confirmed Ireland head coach Scott Bemand.
Advertisement
Wafer was this year's Six Nations Player of the Championship. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
'I think the World Cup warm-up games will come a little bit quickly. But there will be all things put in place to get her back into the World Cup, depending on how certain markers are met will define at which point but we're pretty optimistic with how it's gone.
'I believe she'll be fit at some point (at the World Cup). There's a few markers to get through before that but we're very confident we'll see her at the World Cup.
'It wasn't even in live rugby. Just one of those things, got hit on the side of her leg. Relatively minor procedure and hopefully she comes through it really quickly.'
While Ireland are not putting a timeframe on Wafer's return to action, Bemand will hope to have the influential back row available for the final pool game against the Black Ferns in Brighton.
'It could be before that,' Bemand said. 'There's a medical piece, she's not long had this done. A few bits to jump through that but we're pretty optimistic about that (New Zealand game).'
Bemand is already missing a number of key players for the World Cup, with Dorothy Wall ruled out of the tournament with an Achilles injury and Erin King sidelined with a long-term knee issue.
'She's ahead of schedule,' Bemand said of Wall, 'but what does that look like? It's unlikely to be the World Cup.
'Erin had a piece over time, no real incident or mechanism for the knee. It's a knee that perhaps had stuff going on over the last couple of years and at some point it was going to find her out and none of us knew.'
The Ireland squad are now into the fifth week of their pre-World Cup training camp in Abbotstown, with Ireland men's captain Caelan Doris visiting the squad yesterday to work with the back row players.
In May, defence coach Hugh Hogan left Bemand's backroom team, a change which reportedly didn't sit well with some members of the playing squad.
Former Bath and Exeter Chiefs flanker James Scaysbrook replaced Hogan as defence coach.
'Generally players don't massively enjoy change one way or another, whether people leave or whether as a coaching group we make a decision to do stuff,' Bemand said.
'That's the nature of high performance sport.
'Nothing is as consistent as change in high performance sport. As a coaching group, the synergy and stuff that we were after, we made a decision that we want to add a slightly different layer to what we are. He did a great job in getting it started but the evolving growth in the group, we made a decision to bring in some of the components that James Scaysbrook can bring. Already he's starting to add, he's starting to challenge players to the next level, to the next layer.
'Certainly going into high pressure environments like the World Cup, the synergy bit is really important and we think we're in a good space now.'