Only time will tell if Aoife Wafer’s selection by Irish women’s rugby coach Scott Bemand was a calculated risk or not.
Perhaps Ireland’s most influential player, Wafer has been included among the 18 forwards and 14 backs selected ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England, which begins for Ireland in Franklin’s Garden in a few weeks.
The 22-year-old, who underwent knee surgery in July after sustaining the injury against Wales, has been central to the Irish team and hopes to be fit for the World Cup Pool C opener against Japan on August 24th.
Ireland’s World Cup: limping to the start line or a golden opportunity?
An outstanding backrow, Wafer was named 2025 Six Nations Player of the Championship, but missed Ireland’s two recent warm-up games against Scotland and Canada.
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Clearly the Irish medics believe she can play a role at some point in the tournament.
After Japan, Ireland play against Spain on August 31st and title holders New Zealand on September 7th in the remaining pool games.
Japan are ranked 11th and Spain 13th to Ireland’s fifth on the world table. Defending champions New Zealand are ranked third in the world behind first placed England and Canada, who beat Ireland 26-47 last weekend in Belfast.
Wafer’s power game has been a critical aspect of Ireland’s play as highlighted in scoring four tries in the Six Nations. But she missed the last game of the championship against Scotland and has been unavailable since then.
Edel McMahon, who co-captain’s the squad with secondrow Sam Monaghan, is also among the 32 names. The backrow also injured her knee and did not feature against Scotland or Canada.
Backrows Dorothy Wall (Achilles) and the dynamic Erin King (knee) also miss out on selection due to injury as does Christy Haney.
Prop Haney suffered a hamstring injury, and her place is taken by Ellena Perry, who made her debut in Saturday’s defeat to Canada.
Perry won 11 caps with England but hadn’t lined out for them since 2020 and satisfies World Rugby’s stand down rules for switching nations. She is Irish-qualified via a grandparent and plays with Neve Jones and Monoghan at Gloucester.
Exeter centre Nancy McGillivray, is another of the selected players, who was named in England squads in the past but was never capped, debuted after qualifying through her Irish-born father. She became available to make the switch after her England contract expired in June.
Ireland will undoubtedly miss the injured players. King started at openside flanker in Ireland’s opening three Six Nations matches.
Wall had involvement in all five games, playing in the secondrow and backrow, while Haney came off the bench in all the matches.
Bemand has also picked one uncapped player, hooker Beth Buttimer as well as two players with one cap, Perry and McGillivray and one player with two caps, forward Ivana Kiripati.
The overall look of the side tends towards inexperience when compared to the England squad, who have a couple of players with over 100 caps and several more approaching that number.
No Irish player selected has yet reached 50 caps with just five players with 30 or more.
But Ireland travel with hope and some momentum, having come from behind to beat Scotland and then finished strongly in the second half of their match against Canada after trailing 33-7 at the interval.
“When we qualified for the Rugby World Cup in April 2024, we knew it gave us a solid amount of time to prepare for the tournament,” said Bemand.
“We have used that time to build depth and cultivate our ‘Green Wave’. The majority of this squad have now been together since the start of June, and we are excited to finally get going.”
Co-captain Monaghan added that having missed out on qualification for the last World Cup in New Zealand, the energy and hope within the group remains high.
“The ‘Green Wave’ is more than just a slogan for us – it’s the spirit we carry on to the field,” she said. “Over the coming weeks, we want to make our families proud and inspire the nation. This is a moment we’ve worked tirelessly for, and we’ll leave nothing behind.
“Missing out on the last World Cup lit a fire in all of us. Getting Ireland back on the world stage means absolutely everything, it’s something we have dreamed of and fought forever since. We’re ready, and we are going to give it everything for our country.”
In an expanded 16 team competition, countries are divided into four pools of four teams (pools A to D). Teams in each pool will play one another in a round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage.
Ireland are eyeing a knockout position in Pool C, which means winning the pool or finishing second. The favourites to top the pool are New Zealand.
Ireland RWC Squad:
(*Denotes uncapped)
Forwards: Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC / Ulster) (6), Beth Buttimer (UL Bohemian / Munster)*, Ruth Campbell (Old Belvedere RFC / Leinster) (8), Eimear Corri Fallon (Blackrock RFC / Leinster) (6), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC / Leinster) (48), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC / Ulster) (34), Neve Jones (Gloucester Hartpury) (37), Ivana Kiripati (Creggs RFC / Connacht) (2), Siobhán McCarthy (Railway Union RFC / Munster) (9), Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC / Ulster) (16), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs / Connacht) (34) (Co-Captain), Clíodhna Moloney MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs) (45), Sam Monaghan (Gloucester Hartpury / IQ Rugby) (23) (Co-Captain), Grace Moore (Trailfinders Women / IQ Rugby) (22), Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC / Leinster) (17), Ellena Perry (Gloucester Hartpury / IQ Rugby) (1), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC / Ulster) (17), Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College RFC / Leinster) (15)
Backs: Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC / Munster) (31), Amee Leigh Costigan (Railway Union RFC / Munster) (19), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC / Leinster) (24), Méabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC / Connacht) (14), Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC / Leinster) (20), Nicole Fowley (Galwegians / Connacht) (14), Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC / Leinster) (28), Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC / Munster) (17), Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC / Connacht) (11), Nancy McGillivray (Exeter Chiefs / IQ Rugby) (1), Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC / Leinster) (26), Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC / Connacht) (28), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC / Connacht) (16), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Manawatu RFC / Leinster) (22).
