WXV, Lions and Ireland: Inside Aoife Wafer’s world

Aoife Wafer and many of the Ireland Women’s team are heading into the WXV Global Series buoyed by Katie Taylor’s stunning finale at Croke Park. For every female athlete, young and old, across the country, seeing Taylor sell out 83,000 seats at Croker for her last ever boxing bout is beyond inspiring.

Several members of the Ireland squad got along to the stadium to cheer, and serenade, Taylor throughout her triumphant farewell. It was another, huge indication of the growing appeal of women’s sport.

After her second week in training camp with Ireland, Wafer watched the Taylor fight back home, in Wexford, with her parents. “Even for Katie’s ring-walk, it was just like a goosebumps moment, watching on,” Wafer said. “She absolutely smashed it.

“Katie is an inspiration to anyone in sport and, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a man or a woman, she is the GOAT of boxing. To be honest, she’s probably one of the greatest athletes that Ireland has ever produced. She is phenomenal, and for her to have that, kind of, homecoming moment in Croke Park was amazing.”

Inspired by that event, earlier this month, Wafer and her Ireland teammates tore into it when they reconvened for week three of their camp. It was a unique week, in Dublin, as the Canadian squad were over to train with, and go up against, Ireland. Wafer feels the sessions have been another level up from what the group went through, earlier this year, in preparation for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

“It was brilliant,” she says. “We did units against Canada and, then, had two big sessions versus them. It’s not very often that you get to play against the World Cup finalists, pick their brains on different things, and learn from them, as well.

“We were not just there for that. We were really competing with them. There were some areas of our game that really stood out, and we really got after them. It was really productive, and we learned from a few errors we made, during that week, too.”

That intense training week with Canada, who beat Scotland 64-26 in their first WXV Global Series game of the autumn, was wrapped up with a barbecue, and plenty of stories told. Ireland’s focus has now moved on to their Sunday date against USA Women’s Eagles at Tallaght Stadium.

The immediate goal is to go undefeated during their home tilts against the USA and Japan, before setting off for a two-match tour to South Africa. “We played against the USA recently enough, in WXV 1,” Wafer said, “and hosted Japan, a few years back. I was there as a fan, for that game they played against us at The RDS. They’re a great outfit. I’ve had a few chats with (USA head coach) Jack Hanratty, and he can’t wait to have a crack at us.”

Wafer is heading into her second season with Harlequins but was closely following the Irish Interprovincial Championship, last month. “The dream was always to pull on the blue of Leinster, and represent them at whatever I could,” Wafer commented.

“I was watching a couple of the games, over in London, and I travelled up to Belfast, from Wexford, to watch Leinster play, when I got home. I also watched the Under-18s, and travelled to watch a few other games, too. I do miss playing for Leinster, in my home province, but I’m really enjoying my time with Quins. There are pros and cons to it.”

One of the biggest pros, surely, was the 23-year-old being named Harlequins captain. “It’s not very often that you go over, you’re there for, what, nine months and you get named captain. So, I’m just incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the trust that they’ve shown in me, to lead the team into next season.

“It’s going to be a really good year, learning from the likes of Marlie Packer, who has signed with us, Lucy Packer, Kayleigh Powell, Sarah Bonar – all these incredible leaders. And we’ve got a good, young squad coming through, as well.”

The mention of those names brings us nicely on to the 2027 British & Irish Lions Women tour to New Zealand. That first ever Women’s Lions squad will be a consistent theme, and hotbed for speculation, this season. The women will find, like their male counterparts, there is no getting away from it. Wafer reveals Lions head coach Jo Yapp has already been with the Ireland team for a check-in.

“Jo was in with us during that Canada week,” Wafer said. “I’ve met her a few times before, so we were just chatting. It was more chatting with a person than the actual Lions coach, I guess. As a group, the Lions is not something that we mentioned very often because we have these five Tests coming up, and then there’s the Six Nations.

“So, you’ve got 10 games in between now and that (tour). For us, it’s a focus on USA, then going up against Japan and South Africa. Internally, there is not much talk about it but, I guess, the Lions are in the back of people’s minds.”

Up first for Wafer and Ireland is that weekend tilt against USA. This will be the first time the women’s rugby side has played a Test at Tallaght Stadium, the home of Shamrock Rovers.

“The girls and I are very excited to get stuck in at another new stadium,” Wafer comments. “We love travelling the country, and getting down to the likes of Dexcom Stadium and Musgrave Park. That’s always one of the great parts of playing these home Test matches. It gives us that different opportunity, as well, to reach more people. We get to connect with the crowds and reach the next generation, too.”

“When you play in Tallaght, Belfast, Musgrave or at Dexcom,” she added, “you really can impact a lot of young people’s lives, and you can spend time with them. I know from being in scenarios of being a kid in the crowd, that time players spend with fans is so valuable. It’s really inspiring for them.”

“At the end of the day, we don’t want to just be people on the television that are unreachable, and that you can’t really speak or connect with. We want to be a group that connects with our fans.”

Another way of making that connection with supporters is through social media. Anyone familiar with the most popular social media platforms will note how much more active, and ready to share snippets from their lives, the women’s players are, in comparison to the men.

Anna McGann and Eve Higgins have showcased their quirky friendship, and dance routines, through their accounts, while the likes of Jane Clohessy, Katie Whelan and captain Erin King regularly share updates from social outings, side projects and passions, team gatherings or trips away.

“Anna and Eve love to do TikToks,” Wafer said, “and Caitriona Finn vlogs most of her goings on. Personally, I don’t do TikTok dances, and that kind of thing. That’s just me. I prefer to stick to myself, get my work done and stay behind the camera.

“The girls are brilliant, though, because they are attracting new audiences to our group. Our games are great because people are coming along as they know somebody on the pitch, and they’ve also made connections from seeing, and interacting, with the girls online, whether that is TikTok, Instagram, or whatever. And they are then coming to support that person.

“It is our job, then, to put on a spectacle when we actually get them into the stadium, so they come back again, after that. So, we’re incredibly lucky that we have a lot of players that are very active on social media. For me, I suppose I just post the odd picture, or joke, on it!”

Wafer is currently undertaking a physiotherapy degree at St Mary’s University, near Twickenham. Other members of the Ireland squad are pursuing degrees, and third level qualifications, while some are holding down side jobs or earning money through sponsorship or on social media. Women’s rugby has made major strides in recent years, but full-blown professionalism, and life-changing salaries, are a while away.

“From my own experience,” Wafer commented, “most people are surprised when I tell them I’m studying physiotherapy or that some of the other girls have jobs. I guess that’s just the reality, at the minute, of women’s sports. There’s obviously a few that don’t sit in that bracket but the majority of players do have something on the side, whether it is studying, working or whatever it may be.

“From a sponsorship point of view, we’re incredibly lucky to have the likes of Vodafone that’s come on as kind of that main sponsor [for Ireland] and have their support. That helps grow the game and, I guess, all we can control, as players, is what we do on the field. And if we can back it up, week in, week out, and show people that we’re worthy of being on the world stage, then it’s only going to keep getting better.

“Look, at like at the minute, that’s just how it is. But for us, as players, yes, it’s challenging. There’s a lot of juggling, and plates spinning but it is just that thing of controlling what you can control.”

This has been a banner year for women’s rugby in Ireland. When Ireland hosted Italy at Dexcom Stadium, in the Women’s Six Nations, they did so in front of a record home crowd of 9,206. When Scotland came to Dublin, a month later, that record was shattered. 31,294 packed into Aviva Stadium to see Ireland defeat Scotland, then Wafer told fans, “See you back here, next year!”

“I remember the reaction all right,” the Ballygarrett native said. “A big cheer from the crowd. There was a bit of talk about it, after that game, as the group knew we’d be back. We know that, no matter what the fixture is that is played at the Aviva, the Irish crowd will support us. Whether we play there or elsewhere in the country, that green wave of support is going to follow us.”

“Look,” adds Wafer, “I’d say we could probably get bigger numbers again, which is the target for the game that comes to Aviva, next year. I think that’s definitely achievable… if we can beat that number [from May], then that’s another win.

“As players, we’d love to play at a sold-out Aviva, but if we can just keep building, year on year, that would obviously be a great outcome, too. But, yeah, the roars that we all heard that day, and the atmosphere that surrounded the whole day, was phenomenal.”