Wafer: We’ve Got To Learn Fast For Italy And Right Those Wrongs

The Ireland squad got back down to work at the IRFU High Performance Centre this morning, laser-focused on fixing the errors that left them feeling frustrated with how things went against France in Belfast.

The positive aspects of their three-try display will most certainly be highlighted on the video review, but so too the mistakes that prevented them from pulling off what would have been a brilliant comeback win over les Bleues.

A second round trip to Italy offers the chance for a rapid return to winning ways, but mindful of last year’s 27-21 defeat and how Italy improved in the second half against England, Aoife Wafer says Ireland will leave no stone unturned in their preparation.

“Our (performance) analyst Cian O’Brien is probably one of the best in the world at his job. There’ll be packages with Italian lineouts, scrums, kicks, player packages where there are certain people that we can go after,” she explained.

“He’ll have everything set up for the whole group or for a strategy group that consists of certain players in the squad, and then they feed into to the coaches too, to make a plan of how we’re going to target the Italians.

“We know the Italians have quite a big kick variety and that’s something that we’ll have to look at, and they can be quite physical as well.

“They’ve got a pack that can have a good set-piece, like we saw last year, they mauled us over for a try that proved to be quite crucial in that game. So yeah, it’s something that we’ll definitely kind of target.”

This is Wafer’s third Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign, and the Italy fixture will always hold a special place in her heart as she made her against them as a 19-year-old. She came on as a second half replacement during the 2022 win at Virgin Media Park.

Unfortunately a ruptured hamstring, sustained in Sevens training, led to a long spell on the sidelines, but since her return during 2023’s WXV3 title-clinching victory over Spain, the Ballygarrett native has made the world sit up and take notice of her back row brilliance.

With her barnstorming ball carries and try-scoring touch coming to the fore, she was ever-present as Ireland finished third in last year’s Six Nations to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, claiming her first Championship tries against France and Wales in the process.

Scott Bemand’s side then beat higher-ranked Australia before claiming a famous triumph over New Zealand on the way to a runners-up finish on their WXV1 debut. Wafer bagged braces against the Wallaroos and the Black Ferns, cementing her status as a huge talent in the Test arena.

It was no surprise to see her eye-catching performances lead to recognition off the pitch, as she won the Rugby Players Ireland and Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Women’s 15s Player of the Year awards for 2024, and made both the Women’s Six Nations Team of the Championship and the World Rugby Dream Team.

A Six Nations Player of the Championship nominee last season, Wafer maintained those same high standards against France on Saturday, scoring her seventh and eighth tries in 12 Tests, and making the most carries (17), the most metres-in-contact (47), and winning the joint-most turnovers (3) of any player across the opening round.

Looking back on the 27-15 loss to the French, she admitted: “It’s a game that we should’ve won and we could have won, so we’re quite disappointed and frustrated by the result. But look, we can take a lot of positive things from it as well, to be honest.

“You can only learn from what went wrong and what kind of decisions you might make next time. We pride ourselves on learning fast so we’ve got to reflect and learn fast for Italy and try to right those wrongs.

“We had a big run-in to this campaign but we knew if we played the best we could then we’d beat France.

“Some people might have called that optimistic and said we’re reaching a bit far, but we are an optimistic group and we want to be the best. We want to bring success back to Ireland.”

The Leinster and Wolfhounds star (pictured above with her mum Sam) pointed to Ireland’s ability to bounce back from defeats, including that reversal at the hands of Italy at the RDS. They responded with a runaway win over Wales, and also repeated the trick with winning finishes against Scotland in the Six Nations, and the USA in WXV1.

Just like this current Ireland team, the Italians, led by new head coach Fabio Roselli, carry a big threat at maul time. Hooker and player-of-the-match Vittoria Vecchini touched down twice in Dublin – firstly from a powerful lineout drive and then her second came from a bulldozing carry.

Number 8 Francesca Sgorbini grabbed their only try against England last Sunday from a well-controlled maul, but the Azzurre boast some quality attackers and play-makers in the backs too, including the 80-times capped Beatrice Rigoni and Alyssa D’Incá, a 2024 Six Nations Player of the Championship nominee.

“Italy have some players who are absolutely outstanding,” agreed Wafer. “You look at Rigoni, she’s a phenomenal rugby player, but they are beatable, and last year that was a game that got away from us in the RDS.

“It’s something that we fixed because you look at that Italy game and it got away from us. We had a lot of chances to put them away.

“We had most of the possession and most of the territory, but it was our own mistakes that let Italy into the game, like giving away a penalty, allowing them to kick for the corner and maul us over. That kind of thing.

“But then you also look at the next result that we had after Italy, which was Wales, and we went out and pummelled Wales because we’re a group that learns fast and that is reflected in our honesty with each other.

“I have played Italy twice and we obviously lost in the RDS last year, but in my first cap we also won at a time which probably wasn’t the best for Irish Women’s rugby but we got our result. It will be interesting but I’m backing our girls.”

– Aoife Wafer has been unveiled as Energia’s newest brand ambassador, further enhancing their commitment to powering the future of Irish Rugby