In this instalment of our Women in Sport series, Aoife Wafer shares her sporting inspirations, goals and proudest achievements.
Aoife Wafer is a professional rugby player for Ireland, Leinster and soon to be Harlequins. Born and raised in Wexford, in a small village called Ballygarrett, Aoife grew up playing every sport under the sun, including athletics, surf lifesaving, swimming, hurling and Gaelic football, but rugby was always number one.
Having dreamt of playing for Ireland since she was a child, Aoife started progressing through the pathways at 15, and earned her first contract with Ireland when she finished her Leaving Certificate at just 18 years of age. Aoife now has 15 caps for Ireland.
Recent achievements include being named in the 2024 World Dream Team of the Year and earning the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship. She has just been named in the Ireland World Cup squad. Here she shares her sporting story so far.
What is your earliest sporting memory?
My parents really made me realise that playing for Ireland was a possibility if I worked hard, so my early sporting memories all consist of going with my family to watch Ireland woman’s games in Ashbourne, or watching my mam play on the first ever Gorey RFC women’s team – I used to always run on with the water bottles!
How did you become involved in your sport?
My older brothers made a deal with mam to let them play rugby, so once they started playing, my younger siblings and I were always dragged to the games and would be stuck in the clubhouse, whether it was sunny, raining or hailing. I would always pester my mam to let me play but there weren’t any girls’ teams for me to join.
One day six six-year-old me turned to her and said, “I’d be better off running around out there than standing in here and getting cold.” She couldn’t argue with me, so she let me join the boys’ team and I’ve never looked back!
It’s really great to see the number of girls’ teams now available and offering amazing opportunities for young girls to get involved in the sport, and that’s only going to continue as a result of the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup.
What message would you like to share with young women and girls interested in pursuing a career as an athlete?
I think it’s important for young athletes to try as many sports as they can. There are so many transferable skills and you learn so much from each sport. Find the sport you love. Loving your sport makes all the hours of training, recovery and all the sacrifices like missed events worth it. Keep training and working hard, even when you don’t feel like it, because that’s when it matters the most.
Rugby has a lot to offer for all different types of athletes, and success on the pitch is only possible with the diverse skills and strengths of each player. The tournament is going to be a real display of this, so I encourage everyone to get tickets and come and see it for yourself – you might find that it’s for you, as a fan or a player.
Proudest moment so far…
I’ve got two! The first one is beating the Black Ferns in WXV1 2024. It was a huge milestone in this team’s journey and one I was so proud to be a part of. Facing the Haka and beating New Zealand have been childhood dreams of mine, so scoring two tries and winning the player of the match were the icing on the cake!
My second would be earning my second cap. Before this, I had a bad hamstring injury, which kept me out of an Ireland jersey for over 560 days. Thankfully, I worked my way back to the green jersey and I’m especially grateful my late grandmother was able to see me sporting it. It’s a moment I’m incredibly proud of and I’m extremely grateful that she knew I made it back into an Ireland jersey before she passed away.
The female athlete I admire most is…
I really admire Olympian and former Ireland 7s captain and 15s rugby player Lucy Mulhall. I was lucky enough to get to play alongside her when I first came into the Ireland set up and she inspired me both as a person and as an athlete.
Favourite sporting memory…
I think it has to be the Ireland women’s rugby team winning the Six Nations with a Grand Slam in 2013. I would’ve been nine at the time, and I remember going to the games with my family at the start of the campaign when they played in Ashbourne v France and England. I still have posters from the tournament when they won, and I even had a signed jersey by that squad that I got for my tenth birthday following their grand slam title. It’s hung above my bed ever since!
Do you think there is still a stigma around women in sport?
I think there is still a stigma, however, I do think it’s progressed and lessened over time. I think there are still a lot of stereotypes around women’s sports and our physical abilities and capabilities. However, this is changing with the help of the likes of Ilona Maher, whose tag line is beast, beauty, brains. She shows young females that it’s ok to be strong and that you’re still beautiful. You can be both!
This is a message we’re going to see come to life more and more throughout the tournament, and I’m excited to see the impact this has on young girls, their self-belief and their confidence.
What is the biggest barrier to driving visibility in women’s sports?
I think there are a few things that are barriers to growing the women’s game, but one of them would be the lack of investment into women’s sport. Our team is proof that when you invest, the team grows and gets better at every opportunity. However, we still have a long way to go to earn equal rights, such as pay, sponsorship opportunities, and visibility in the male game.
For me, growing visibility starts with social media platforms. We need to show young kids that women’s sport is just as important as male sports, and that big brands, companies or sporting bodies care just as much about the women’s game as the men’s game.
The tournament feels like a real moment in time to show the world what women’s rugby is all about, and that includes fans coming to see us in action, filling the stadiums and being part of our Green Wave, which is the IRFU’s nationwide movement to grow the game and celebrate women’s rugby.
The biggest stigma/misconception that exists in women’s sport is…
I think it’s around body image. For me, growing up, I always tried to be a bit smaller and less muscly, but I couldn’t be that and still be a really good rugby player. I had to learn that my body is perfect for everything that I want to do in rugby, like running through tackles, making big hits, doing lineouts and scrums and helping my teammates on the pitch. My body allows me to be the best version of me. However, growing up, I thought I didn’t fit the stereotype of a normal girl or woman. I think the likes of Sarah Bern and Ilona Maher are doing great work on social media to raise awareness that every body type is perfect and that there is no “normal” body type.
Rugby World Cup 2025’s body confidence campaign ‘Strong Bodies Strong Minds’ is all about body confidence and inspiring teenage girls and young women to be unapologetically themselves. The tournament is really going to capture this and leave so many people empowered and we can’t wait to welcome fans, new and old alike, to our rugby family, where we can all belong.
If I weren’t an athlet,e I would be…
I think I would be a physiotherapist. I currently study physiotherapy and I love the challenge of it all. If not, I’d be playing more traditional Irish music somewhere! I play loads of instruments and it’s a hobby I love!
My favourite pre-match meal is…
I love having pancakes before a big game. They’re good for carb loading and I’ve a really big sweet tooth too, so they tick both those boxes.
My pre-match playlist includes…
I always include some chill music from the likes of Noah Kahan, Amble or Kingfishr to just relax before getting hyped up for the game. I’ll usually throw a good Irish trad tune in there too!
My daily routine is…
My daily routine when I’m training with Ireland is usually carefully planned by our Team Manager. It starts with breakfast, then usually moves into monitoring where we check our mobility, weight and flexibility to see if we need to get anything looked over by the physios before training. I then move into some mobility before having a quick snack and getting ready to head out onto the pitch.
I then refuel, and head to the gym. I’ll do some recovery in the hydrotherapy suite, or the regeneration room with the Normatec boots. I’ll head back home to get some dinner and then I’ll do my analysis before getting ready to head to bed.
If I have time, I’ll play some music, but importantly, head to sleep and get some rest before another day of training.
My biggest sporting goal is…
For the team, I’d love for us to win some silverware and compete and beat some of the bigger nations. Our DNA includes competing for everything and being a part of a successful Ireland, so I’d love to be a part of that and bring Ireland Women’s Rugby back to the top. Personally, I want to be the best player in the world. I’ve always dreamed of being the best in the world and looked up to the greats of women’s rugby. I’d love to have my name alongside theirs.
Biggest splurge to celebrate a win…
I have a really big sweet tooth, so I’d probably celebrate with a bit of chocolate as a treat! I don’t drink any alcohol, so I’d definitely have to have something sweet to celebrate!
How do you mind your mental health?
I mind my mental health by exercising. If I can’t do my own exercise, for example, when I’m in training camp, then I rely on music. I love listening to all sorts of music and love playing it too. I play several instruments: the uilleann pipes, tin whistle, classical flute, and the traditional flute. I always bring my flute or tin whistle with me when I travel with rugby too and I’m always playing a few tunes in my downtime! I also love snapping some photos and I’m big into sports photography!
I need at least 8 hours of sleep a night…
To make sure I’m fully recovered and prepped for the next day of training and can be my best for the team!
Confidence, to me, is…
Having belief in your ability which is backed up by hard work and knowing that you’ve done everything you can to put yourself in the best place for the team. For me, it’s evidence-based and that’s through the hours of working hard, preparation and dedication to getting better.
How do you get over a bad performance?
I spend a lot of time doing analysis. I’ll watch the game the same day several times before I even think about going to bed. I’ll check on certain areas I can improve on and see what I can work on. If there are certain areas or skills that I can control then I’ll figure out drills that I can run to make sure I nail the skill under pressure when it happens the next time. I also spend time learning from other athletes and coaches to see their perspectives on the game. I can then take their ideas and see if I can add it to my game too.
Lastly, why is sport such an integral part of community, on a club, local, national and personal level?
I think sport is so important on all of those levels to create bonds and friendships with different people. You make lifelong friends when you get involved with sport. Sport makes you feel included, and it gives you a space to express yourself without being judged on the field, and rugby in particular creates a real sense of belonging.
As well as that, you stay fitter and healthier whilst also having a bit of craic along the way. On a personal level, it allows me to do something I’m obsessed with and that I love with my best friends. It gives me an opportunity to live my childhood dream every day of being a professional athlete who gets to play for Ireland. It’s honestly a dream come true for me.
Rugby has something to offer for everyone, fans and players alike, and I can’t wait to see the impact of the tournament on a local level back here in Ireland, as well as on a global scale through the tournament’s legacy programme ‘Impact Beyond’.
Come and see the action! You might just love it!
Tickets, including Ireland’s clashes with Spain and Japan, are on general sale – available at tickets.rugbyworldcup.com. For the latest tournament updates and fixture details, visit rugbyworldcup.com/2025.
Imagery sourced from Irish Rugby and Six Nations Rugby.
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