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
I bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments