Aoife Wafer: Ireland wanted to 'right wrongs' against Wales
Aoife Wafer says her team-mates were driven to perform against Wales by a desire to “show everyone who Ireland is and who we are”.
Ireland went into Saturday’s match on a run of seven Guinness Women’s Six Nations matches without a win but raced into a 21-0 lead within 26 minutes in Cork and ultimately saw out an impressive 36-5 victory.
It was a far cry from their previous outing, a 27-21 defeat to Italy in Dublin a fortnight ago, and flanker Wafer – at the heart of much of what Scott Bemand’s side did well at Musgrave Park – revealed the players were motivated to make up for that result.
“We spoke all week about what our targets were and what our goals were going into this game,” player of the match Wafer said.
“We were quite disappointed with our performance against Italy, we knew we had them in a lot of opportunities and we wanted to come out and right those wrongs and show everyone who Ireland is and who we are.
“There are some really big positives from this game. There is also some stuff that we can take and really target in training.
“I’m sure our coaches have some sort of plan for us to go out and target England and for us to do a job [at Twickenham next Saturday]. We’ll have our goals and if we hit those we’ll be in a good spot.”
Wafer scored the opening try of the match in Cork and played a crucial role in two of the other four during what was an impressive showing.
Following the match, which reignites Ireland’s hopes of finishing in the top three and securing WXV 1 and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification, she lauded the spirit and competition for places that are building within Bemand’s squad.
“We believe in each other and we know that whoever is picked in that 15, that they can go out and do the job,” she added. “But more importantly, we know that anyone who’s finishing the game can come on and lift that energy.
“Then we also have our family of players at home, and they drive standards beyond any I’ve seen before. To have 35 or so players who are just driving standards and pushing each other, you know that then whoever gets the jersey deserves it.
“We’ve done huge work on our culture and we trust each other.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Edel McMahon in the wake of victory, the co-captain also revealing that the squad had undertaken an “honest reflection” of the handling errors that marred their defeat to Italy last month.
McMahon said: “When we played France, we looked at some of the defensive things we did really well and where we put ourselves on the pitch and put that in going into Italy.
“We’re playing in the right areas, we’re creating opportunities and then layering that on, just being honest with ourselves about where we could be better.
“That’s why we’re starting to get more competition within places, we’re getting more clarity, and clarity breeds confidence, and we saw quite a lot of that today.”
Victory in Cork lifted Ireland, who won WXV 3 in Bemand’s first campaign as coach, up to third in the standings with matches against England at Twickenham and Scotland at Kingspan Stadium to come.
McMahon praised Bemand for the impact he has had on the squad since arriving last summer.
“As a squad, we’re a lot more cohesive. It’s not just one to 23, whether you’re involved one week or you’re not involved the next, there’s quite a lot of clarity amongst the squad,” she said.
“There’s a two-way leadership in that players have a say in how we feel in how we want to attack and defend and that’s a working relationship with staff and players.
“[Bemand] is breeding confidence within the group. More people are being leaders, and I think that’s why we’re starting to piece together confidence on the pitch.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Great role model.
2 Go to commentsOne significant tell, not a single Waratahs player stopped to whinge to the ref about Finau’s tackle. They got on with playing the game. Great tackle.
8 Go to commentsWouldn’t be a bad move if Ireland pulled into SA with a young side. Particularly in Pretoria. Invaluable experience getting thumped in the bosveld.
54 Go to commentsIreland. The Princess Diana of Rugby. I never cheered so much for a team as i did for the All Blacks in that QF.
54 Go to commentsWill be great to see the Leinster first XV back in action again after their cotton wool time…
1 Go to commentsLooked up Grant Constable on google and reply was doppelgänger for Ben Smith
54 Go to commentsIt is so good that we now all get excited and debate who is best and emotionally get involved. We all back our teams which is great. Up until about 15-20 years ago, NZ was basically on its own, and then Saffa, Aussie and sometimes French and English were there. We now have at least 5-6 really top sides and another 4 who keep improving. This is so healthy. So we should not resort to rubbish comments and unhealthy debate, but rather all be chuffed that the product we watch is not competitive, exciting and often uncertain. It would be so good if World Rugger could find a way to align the rules to professional players as well as spectators. Live rugby games are SO boring as there is SO much down time as we wait for refs and TMOs and whoever else to look at every small event going back endless phases with the hope of eventually find a minute infringement to then decide cancel what was a wonderful try. This is the ultimate cork back in the bottle moment and feels like every balloon is always being popped. Come on- we must be better with the rules.
54 Go to comments“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
2 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
54 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
54 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
54 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
54 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
54 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
54 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
54 Go to comments