Bemand Feels Wafer ‘Tracking Well’ To Make Rugby World Cup

Ireland flanker and Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship Aoife Wafer is ‘tracking well’ to be included in the Ireland squad for the closing stages of the Rugby World Cup Pool fixtures.

Head Coach Scott Bemand, who named the Ireland team to play Scotland on Saturday in Virgin Media Park, confirmed that Wafer, who had an operation for a MCL (medial cruciate ligament) injury three weeks ago is still very much in consideration for the Rugby World Cup squad.

“There’s a lot of questions around Aoife at the minute,” the Englishman told RTÉ Sport. “You want your best players, you want players that can impact on the world stage, fit and available.

“Unfortunately, back from the Six Nations, the Doro (Dorothy Wall) incident and Erin (King), you know, but that’s rugby that can happen. We’ve got an enormous amount of talent coming through who have been a big part of the pre-season campaign so far.

“She’s tracking to put her name in the hat, along with everybody else. She’s tracking to be available (for the squad announcement), which is everything we planned.

“The medics are all over this one. We feel we’ve got a really strong plan in place to get her back on the pitch.

“People want to see her play. We want to see her play. We think we’re tracking towards that.”

Bemand included two uncapped players – Ivana Kiripati and Nancy McGillivray – in the starting XV for the clash with Scotland on Saturday in Cork and has also included the uncapped Ailish Quinn on the bench.

Speaking about the pre-season build up and Saturday’s game he said, “It’s the right time. We need to play a different shirt now, all the hard work, what the pre seasons mean to people? Well, they feel a bit uncomfortable, don’t they, and you’ve got to get a certain amount of work in the bank.

“So, yeah, we’re ready, ready to put it on the page already, without air and authority.”