Aoife Wafer: 'PWR has the best players in the world in one league.'

Aoife Wafer admits that she is not one for sitting still.

In the weeks since Ireland’s 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup exit, she has been getting ready for her new start with Harlequins in Premiership Women’s Rugby.

It has been a landmark year for Wafer. The 22-year-old was named Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship as Scott Bemand’s side finished third in the competition.

But a PCL injury meant that the back-row forward had a race against time for World Cup fitness. Her time on the field in England was limited to just Ireland’s last eight clash with France.

The French had to overturn a 13-point half-time deficit to claim a 18-13 win in Exeter.

That result dashed Irish hopes of a return to the semi-finals for the first time since 2014. It was a tough pill to swallow.

“After that France game, I was pretty devastated to be fair,” Wafer told RugbyPass. “It was nearly like there was a loss in the family.

“I had fought back from a tough injury; it’s probably a place I wouldn’t want to go into again with the intensity of the rehab.

“I was ready to play nearly eight weeks after surgery. That France game was a weird game. It was a game that we really believed we could win. To not do that for the country was heartbreaking.”

Wafer’s sole outing at the World Cup offered an insight of exactly what Harlequins will get from their new back-row forward.

Over the course of 80 minutes the 22-year-old made a whopping 26 carries, won two turnovers and made nine tackles in a typical display of her doggedness.

In the months to come it is almost certain that Wafer will become a crowd favourite at the Twickenham Stoop.

The Stoop will be the start and end point of this PWR season. Harlequins open up the 2025/26 campaign with a visit from Loughborough Lightning this Friday night and will be the venue of the final in June.

A star addition to Ross Chisholm’s team, Wafer will be getting a first taste of English top flight rugby and test herself in a league regarded as the best in the world.

“I was just hungry for a new challenge,” Wafer said. “Being 22, I’ve hopefully got loads of time in my career, I wanted to try it.

“I talk about wanting to be the best player in the world and to do that, and to do that you have to play against the best, and right now PWR has the best players in the world in one league. So why not come and test myself?”

Wafer joins an extremely talent rich squad at Harlequins. Across the board the London club have veritable stars of the game.

Ellie Kildunne may steal the headlines, but it is an extremely competitive back-row group, with the likes Jade Konkel, Alex Callender, Sara Svoboda and Nicola Wythe all competing for places every week. It is the perfect place to push herself further.

“I looked at the whole squad, and the talent is ridiculous,” Wafer said.

“You have your star names like Ellie (Kildunne) and then you have the likes of Jade Konkel in the back-row, Alex Callender, who I’m living with at the moment, or Laura Delgado who I’m also living with.

“It’s insane the amount of talent that this group has. I’m just really looking forward to getting in, picking their brains, trying to upskill myself.”