‘We Learn Fast And We Go Again’ – Wafer

Aoife Wafer is backing this Ireland squad to get the best out of themselves against Wales in Belfast on Saturday week, as they look to right the wrongs of their scoreless second-half performance away to France.

Scott Bemand’s side have a chance to draw breath during this week’s break in fixtures, with the Guinness Women’s Six Nations having the same schedule as the 2026 Men’s tournament which was played over six weeks – with back-to-back matches over the first three weekends – rather than seven as in previous years.

Last season’s Women’s Six Nations also took place during a six-week window, although there were two rounds back-to-back, a break, and then three matchdays in a row. For the current Championship, that has been reversed with Ireland playing on three successive Saturdays this month.

They have plenty review and reflect on after records tumbled during those opening matches, playing against England in front of the largest ever Women’s Six Nations attendance, while they wrote themselves into the record books again with a 57-20 win over Italy in Galway, watched by their biggest crowd yet on home soil.

The Green Wave wanted to rock the boat by upsetting second-placed France in Clermont, and were right in the hunt until les Bleues pulled away to win 26-7. As they did between the England and Italy games, Wafer is confident that they will come back even stronger.

“I think this group is a group that bounces back quickly,” she said after Saturday night’s gut-wrenching defeat. “We learn quick, and we pride ourselves on learning faster than our opposition.

“We’ve shown that when we lose games, we come out with a bit of hunger into that next game with points to prove.

“Whether it was losing versus England and we came out versus Italy, or whether it was last year versus France, we came out next game firing. That’s just what we do, we learn fast and we go again.”

Having excelled at times during nearly an hour on the pitch against Italy, Wafer was even better during the much-anticipated showdown with the French, making almost 100 metres from 19 carries, with 44.7 post-contact metres, and landing all bar one of her 18 attempted tackles.

Ireland should have been ahead at half-time, but crucially could not add to Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald’s 11th-minute maul try, as Brittany Hogan, Fiona Tuite, and hooker Moloney-MacDonald, who had one of her best displays in the green jersey, all had scores ruled out.

Those missed opportunities came back to haunt them after the break as despite making 99 tackles during the closing 40 minutes, the Irish defence could prevent influential out-half Carla Arbez, Anaïs Grando, and Léa Champon from touching down.

Tellingly, the teams had the same amount of attacking 22-metre entries – nine each – but France averaged 2.9 points per visit, and Ireland only 0.8. Their failure to convert those bouts of pressure into points brought back memories of last year’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to the same opponents.

Wafer commented: “I said it in the past that I take losses quite personally. I had a point to prove coming out today because I felt that I didn’t do enough in the World Cup. But as well, I want to be the best in the world, and to do that you have to consistently do it.

“I felt like I had an alright game against Italy, so it’s about building on that again and working with the coaches and on different areas of my game and kind of chasing different little aspects.

“The first carry was a way to get into it, alright. But it’s just wanting to do that now for the full 80, isn’t it?.”

Head coach Bemand and captain Erin King spoke in the aftermath about the fine margins that made the difference in deciding the result. As well as missing out on those tries, Bemand pointed to the importance of ‘nailing your kick to touch and nailing your exit’ as ‘these are the type of things that don’t let France in’.

While the outcome showed they have more work to do to reel in the French, there were encouraging signs like the lineout and maul again, with 19 takes from 22 throws, the penalty count going in Ireland’s favour for the second week running, and 72.5% of their 127 rucks being in the 0-3 seconds range, a rate nearly 11% higher than the hosts.

Along with Wafer and Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang and Dorothy Wall stood out in the tight five, the latter launching herself into 18 carries in 58 minutes. King had a couple of big moments with turnvoers, likewise Stacey Flood with two terrific try-saving tackles, and Eve Higgins was a lively runner off the bench.

Sitting fourth in the table, Ireland still have plenty to play for as they prepare to take on Wales at Affidea Stadium, the home of Ulster Rugby, and Scotland in the historic May 17 finale at the Aviva Stadium. They have not registered three wins in a single Six Nations campaign since 2020.

“I think there’s a lot of positives to take from the France game,” admitted Wafer. “We showed that we can create chances and opportunities for us to convert. And I guess that is something that we’ll have to look at going away from this.

“If we convert those – was it three tries or something in the first half that were disallowed? – and that’s a completely different game at half-time (rather than being seven-all).

“There are still two more games, so next game in Affidea Stadium and then the Aviva Stadium to cap it all off. We’re very fortunate that we get to go home to our shores and hopefully put out another performance.”

The Ballygarrett native also believes that François Ratier’s France team, with some new personnel this season and a fresh game-plan, could prove difficult for defending champions England to beat in a potential Grand Slam decider in Bordeaux next month.