Wexford’s Aoife wins Six Nations player of the year for second year running

A Wexford rugby player is continuing to star on the world’s stage….

Wexford star Aoife Wafer has been named the Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship for the second consecutive year.

The 23-year-old was announced as the winner today after securing more than 40 per cent of the public vote, seeing off strong challenges from England’s Meg Jones, Italy’s Francesca Sgorbini, and France’s Pauline Bourdon Sansus.

Wafer, a native of Ballygarret in North Wexford, played a central role in what has been a landmark campaign for Scott Bemand’s Ireland side. The team won all three of their home fixtures, set new attendance records, and finished third overall in the tournament.

The powerful number eight ended the championship with impressive personal statistics: the second-highest number of carries (78), joint-top for dominant tackles (8), top for post-contact metres (129), and five tries, which placed her joint-third in the try-scoring charts.

She received the award at a special ceremony held earlier today at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Covent Garden, London.

Speaking after the presentation, a delighted Wafer said:

“I don’t even know what to say. Last year I was the first Irish woman and the youngest to win it, so to back it up again is pretty special. The girls back home will agree with me that these things don’t happen without the whole team.I’m just so grateful to be part of such an incredible group, both with Ireland and back at Harlequins,” the Wexford woman said.

Ireland opened their campaign with a defeat away to England at Twickenham, before bouncing back strongly with a commanding victory over Italy at a packed Dexcom Stadium in Galway, where Wafer crossed the try line.

A loss to France in Clermont followed, but the side responded with convincing wins over Wales in Belfast and Scotland at the Aviva Stadium, where a record crowd of 31,294 turned out to support them.

The Harlequins back-row forward was in sparkling form in the latter stages, scoring two tries against both Wales and Scotland. That run has taken her try-scoring tally in the Six Nations to an outstanding nine tries in her last nine appearances.

Wafer and her Ireland teammates will now turn their attention to the expanded WXV Global Series tournament in the autumn, with fixtures expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to Aoife on another outstanding individual honour and a superb championship. Wexford is rightly proud of her continued success on the international stage.