Latest news with #AoifeWafer
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Ireland backrow Aoife Wafer to join Harlequins
Ireland backrow Aoife Wafer will join Premiership side Harlequins later this season. The 22-year-old was named 2025 Six Nations player of the championship last week, having previously been shortlisted for the award in 2024. The Wexford woman, who was also included in this season's Six Nations team of the championship and the 2024 world Rugby team of the year, will leave Leinster for the west London club following the conclusion of the Rugby World Cup later this season. Harlequins' last Premiership title came in 2021. This season they reached the semi-finals but were defeated by Saracens. READ MORE Speaking of her move, Wafer said: 'I'm really looking forward to being here and I can't wait to get going. 'This league has all the star players in the world in it. I want to be the best player in the world, and I can't wait to test myself out against those stars every week.' ✍️ History in the making. The next chapter is ready to be written. 📚 📦 Delivered by — Harlequins Women 🃏 (@HarlequinsWomen) Harlequins head coach Ross Chisholm said he's delighted with Wafer's addition to his squad. 'We saw Aoife break through on the international scene and saw that the way she plays the game really suits the brand of rugby we want to play here too. We've watched her on her journey over the last few years and seen the progression she has had. She's announced herself as a real world-class operator,' said Chisolm. 'We want people here who are going to fit into our environment and also feel like they belong in it and with Aoife, we feel like it's a perfect fit.'
RTÉ News
22-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Ireland star Aoife Wafer to join Harlequins after World Cup
Ireland forward Aoife Wafer has joined Harlequins and will start with the Premiership Women's Rugby team following the World Cup. Named as the 2025 Six Nations player of the tournament on Monday, Wexford native Wafer makes the move from Leinster and Celtic Challenge side Wolfhounds. Ireland team-mates Edel McMahon, Dorothy Wall, Neve Jones and Clíodhna Moloney also play in the English championship. Wafer said: "The history that the club is steeped in is something that really stood out to me. "I'm really looking forward to being here and I can't wait to get going. "This league has all the star players in the world in it. "I want to be the best player in the world, and I can't wait to test myself out against those stars every week. "I was very lucky to come over to a game a few months ago and meet some of the girls and the family values were something that really stood out to me. "That's really important to me, and I know that my family will be well looked after over here as well." The 22-year-old (above) burst on to the international scene last season and was nominated for the player of the season award as well as being named on the 2024 World Rugby XVs team of the year. During this year's Six Nations she scored four tries and made 70 carries - the most of any player - for a staggering 424.7 metres, beating 17 defenders in the process, the second highest of any forward in the championship. She added: "Hopefully what people have seen on the international stage is what they'll get from me at Quins! I'm going to be working incredibly hard to be the best version of myself and hopefully that can really benefit the team, because at the end of the day, it's not about me, it's about whole team." Scott Bemand's Ireland side will play World Cup warm-ups against Scotland and Canada at the start of August. They face Japan, Spain and New Zealand in Pool C of the World Cup in August and September.
BreakingNews.ie
22-05-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Ireland number eight Aoife Wafer signs for Harlequins
Ireland number eight Aoife Wafer will join English Premiership side Harlequins after the Rugby World Cup. The Wexford native follows her international teammates Dorothy Wall, Neve Jones and Edel McMahon in making the move to English clubs in recent years. Advertisement Wafer was named the 2025 Women's Six Nations Player of the Year by popular vote on Monday, becoming the first Irish player to receive the accolade. She made her Ireland debut in 2022 against Italy and has since gone on to become a key figure in the Ireland team helping to secure consecutive third place finishes in the Guinness Women's Six Nations, as well as qualification for the upcoming Rugby World Cup. Wafer currently plays for Blackrock College and Leinster. Speaking about her move to Harlequins, Wafer said, 'The history that the Club is steeped in is something that really stood out to me. I'm really looking forward to being here and I can't wait to get going. This league has all the star players in the world in it. I want to be the best player in the world, and I can't wait to test myself out against those stars every week,' Advertisement 'I was very lucky to come over to a game a few months ago and meet some of the girls and the family values were something that really stood out to me. That's really important to me, and I know that my family will be well looked after over here as well.' IRFU Head of Women's Performance & Pathways Gillian McDarby said, 'We're pleased for Aoife as she takes this next step in her career with Harlequins, where she will have the opportunity to further her development in a high-performance environment. 'Her journey is a testament to the investment and progress within the Irish system, which continues to produce talent capable of performing at the highest level. We look forward to continue working with Aoife in green during the international windows.'
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Harlequins sign Ireland forward Wafer from Leinster
Harlequins have signed Ireland forward Aoife Wafer for the 2025-26 Premiership Women's Rugby who was recently named the 2025 Women's Six Nations Player of the Championship, will join the club from Leinster after this year's World Cup, which will be held in England between 22 August and 27 September. "I think there comes a stage where you have to test yourself week in and week out against the best in the world," the 22-year-old told BBC Sport. "I can't wait to get involved into because they're just brave, physical and entertaining."Wafer, considered one of the best back-rowers in the world, will be joining an already stacked Harlequins roster which includes Scotland number eight Jade Konkel and Wales flanker Alex Wafer says the calibre of her new team-mates was one of most attractive aspects of the move. "This team is absolutely star-studded, especially in the back row," she added."I just can't wait to get in and learn from them and kind of try tease a few things out of their brain and make my game better as well. Hopefully I'll be able to help them too." Conversations with the Harlequins head coach Ross Chisolm have centred around her playing six and eight."You look at the modern-day rugby player and people can play across a number of positions," said Chisolm. "Aoife is a high-quality player; she could probably play predominantly more six and eight but it could give us a nice balance to go 'I think today we need this and tomorrow we need that' it's going to be competitive."She is in my opinion right up there on the world stage of quality of player, the exciting thing is I still think there is room for growth. "Aoife is 22 years-old, it's crazy to think that she's able to output that ability at that age." Ireland's back row crisis Wafer announced her new club in a protective brace as a precaution following a minor leg injury at the end of the Six fitness has become increasingly significant for Ireland following injuries to back rowers Dorothy Wall and Erin King, who will both miss the World Cup. Wafer joked "it feels like the back row jerseys is cursed"."We'll really miss the girls," she said. "The physicality and the energy they bring on the field is something you just you can't get, they're key players for us. But I think it gives an opportunity to other people to really stand up and try kind of fight for a spot."We've plenty of other players who haven't quite got the chance to get to step up into that back row, so I think it'd be interesting come to the World Cup. But yeah, we'll definitely miss the girls."Ireland face Japan in their World Cup Pool C opener on 24 August before games against Spain on 31 August and holders New Zealand on 7 September.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Aoife Wafer interview: I wore a scrum cap to hide my hair so boys would treat me the same
Of all the talent that has emerged from the rugby hotbed of Leinster in recent years, it is one of the province's women's players whose story is perhaps the most fascinating. Aoife Wafer, one of the breakout stars from an improving Ireland side, no longer has designs to play club rugby in her home country, having on Thursday been unveiled by Harlequins. Her rationale for joining England's Premiership Women's Rugby is simple. 'I want to test myself and I want to be the best in the world,' Wafer tells Telegraph Sport at Twickenham Stoop. 'Coming to the environment at Harlequins will help me to do that.' Having been named in World Rugby's 2024 team of the year and won Six Nations player of the championship for 2025, Wafer is the most exciting overseas recruit to the PWR since the arrival of United States superstar Ilona Maher at the start of the year. Her exploits on the international stage have transformed her into a standard-bearer for Irish women's rugby and have earned her admiration from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll. What a year it's been for Aoife Wafer 🤩🏆 Full Interview here ➡️ #GuinnessW6N #GuinnessPOTC @IrishRugby — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) May 19, 2025 🗣"You want to have that individual's respect." 🗣"They inspire others to improve their game." Brian O'Driscoll outlines his admiration for Aoife Wafer and her ambition to be the best player in the world. #Rugby @BankOfIreland #NeverStopCompeting — Off The Ball (@offtheball) April 22, 2025 Deceptively mobile and a powerful weapon off the base of the scrum, Wafer topped the charts for carries and made a staggering 424.7 metres in this year's Six Nations – a tally that surpassed many back-three players. But it was her polished performance against New Zealand last autumn – when Ireland stunned the world champions – that left a lasting impression on Harlequins head coach Ross Chisholm, who describes the 22-year-old as 'world class'. Even Wafer's trademark red scrum cap has made her something of a cult heroine in her homeland. 'When we were down at Musgrave Park in Cork [ against England during the Six Nations ], there were kids asking me to sign red scrum caps,' she says. 'It's the coolest feeling and it's only going to get bigger with the World Cup being so close to Ireland.' The scrum cap was Wafer's vehicle for acceptance at her childhood club, Gorey RFC, where she started out as a six-year-old on the boys' team. 'Little Aoife thought it would hide her hair,' she says, laughing. 'I had bright blonde hair down to my backside and I thought wearing a scrum cap would hide it because then maybe the boys would treat me the same. Obviously my hair hung out the back of it so they could all see it anyway! 'It's quite tough at that age. They don't want to pass you the ball because you're a girl. They don't want to tackle you because you're a girl. But once you score a few tries they're like, 'God we don't want girls scoring tries – just tackle her!' It's gas. Once the lads got on board, they were my biggest supporters. 'When I started making the likes of Leinster Under-18s or Ireland Under-18s, some of our games started being streamed. My late grandmother, Cathy Wafer, would watch all the games and having a red scrum cap was an easy way for her to pick me out on the pitch. So wearing it now is a way of honouring her.' 💪 Aoife Wafer doing Aoife Wafer things 🤩 #GuinnessW6N @IrishRugby — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 20, 2025 How proud her late grandmother would have been to see her further her career at a club that have been trying to lure her for the past year. Earlier this month, Harlequins flew Wafer over to south-west London to secure her signature and film promotional content. A drone specialist was even hired to capture her 'unveiling' video at the Stoop and come September, Wafer will be housed in one of the cottages in Guildford owned by the club. In the context of a sport that is still loss-making – the salary cap of the league will be pushed up to £255,000 next season – it is both serious and doubly impressive. An approach this innovative is yet to be mirrored across the women's club game in Ireland, where the Irish Rugby Football Union's historic neglect of women's XVs rugby has resulted in the country playing catch-up with the Rugby Football Union's world-leading Red Roses and PWR. While Wafer is not the first Irish player to join the PWR, her move could lead the IRFU to start haemorrhaging more home-grown talent because of its strict contracting policy. The union currently reserves contracts for players – 37 were signed up last season – who are based in Ireland. With Wafer's deal running until the end of the World Cup, should she then get injured whilst playing or training for Harlequins, the responsibility to cover the medical costs falls on the club rather than the union. Should others follow in her footsteps, there could be parallels with the RFU's own talent drain to France in the men's game. So does the IRFU's policy need a rethink? 'There's good things and bad things about it,' says Wafer, diplomatically. 'It was a difficult decision for a lot of different reasons, my family being the main one. To test myself against some Red Roses will only better me as a player. Who knows? In a few years, what Ireland plan on doing is really exciting. They're planning on potentially contracting players to the provinces. Who knows, I could be back at Leinster and be contracted to be a professional there with my home province.' One thing she will be packing in her suitcase is her tin whistle. Wafer is a talented musician, who also plays the traditional flute, the uilleann pipes and the classical flute. 'When you're in the midst of a campaign, it's like an escape,' she says. 'I love it. When we were over in Canada last year for WXV, the girls would go shopping and I'd stay in and play a bit of music. It's like bringing a bit of Ireland with me everywhere I go.' As someone already being lauded as a generational player, Wafer will be looking to hit top notes next season.
