
Ireland hit with yet another injury blow which may rule Six Nations star out of World Cup in August
Ireland's Six Nations stand-out performer is now racing to get fit in time for the World Cup opener against Japan on August 24 in Northampton.
Advertisement
3
Ireland had a bright start to the Six Nations but a heavy defeat to England ruled out winning chances
3
Wafer was their top performer throughout the competition
3
Scott Bemand will have a smaller pool of players to choose from for the World Cup
The former Leinster backrower looks set to miss the World Cup warm-up games against Scotland on August 2 and August 9.
The knee injury occurred during
Despite missing the final round, the Wexford native's performances in the competition earned her Women's Six Nations Player of the Tournament.
Advertisement
Read more on Irish sport
It was announced in May that Wafer would join up with Harlequins at the end of the Rugby World Cup.
She has been with Leinster her whole professional career having led the Wolfhounds - a Leinster and Ulster combined team - to back to back Celtic Challenge Cups.
The Quins were impressed with the former Enniscorthy RFC player as she was named in the 2024 World Rugby XVs Team of the Year.
The 22-year-old joins key players Erin King and Dorothy Wall on the growing Ireland injury list.
Advertisement
Most read in Rugby Union
King was ruled out of both the remainder of the Six Nations and the World Cup when suffering a knee injury - which required surgery - in Ireland's
Wall World Cup dreams were also shattered during the Six Nations, sustaining an Achilles tendon injury in the final Six Nations game against Scotland.
Craig Casey shares hilarious 'fear' weighing on him before captaining Ireland for first time vs Georgia
Ireland's pack will be heavily weakened without three of their star players if Wafer fails to reach match fitness.
Scott Bemand's side finished third in the Six Nations table for the second year in a row following a last place finish in 2023 with no points on the board.
Advertisement
Ireland bettered last season's Six Nations points tally by one point but saw a significant change in score difference as they went from -71 in 2024 to +5 in 2025.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Times
24 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Kildare hold off Limerick to secure Tailteann Cup and return to Sam Maguire action
Tailteann Cup Final: Kildare 1-24 Limerick 2-19 This was a Tailteann Cup final that Kildare , desperate to return to the Sam Maguire Cup race in 2026, simply couldn't afford to lose. And they almost did. Well, that's not entirely accurate. Had Limerick substitute Rory O'Brien's shot at goal gone in, well after the siren had sounded, instead of deflecting over for a point, it would have only secured extra-time. Still, given Kildare's Croke Park record – they'd only won eight of 28 championship games there since the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final loss to Down – you wouldn't have been putting the mortgage on them getting the job done. That's not to say they didn't deserve their two-point win though. They were just about good value for it overall, the scores throughout the 70 minutes or so coming that little bit easier for them. READ MORE Darragh Kirwan got plenty of them, 0-8 in total, while Alex Beirne scored Kildare's only goal and finished with 1-2. For the second game running, there was a big impact from the bench from Brian McLoughlin also. The 2018 All-Ireland under-20 final goalscorer struck five points in the semi-final win over Fermanagh after coming on and provided another important cameo this time, shooting three points. It was McLoughlin's 55th-minute two-pointer that really energised Kildare, tying the game at that stage and further deflating Limerick, who'd just kicked two point attempts short at the other end. From there, Kildare kicked on with a series of scores in front of their supporters on the Hill 16 terrace, opening up a four-point lead which proved decisive in the end. It's Kildare's first piece of serious silverware since winning the Division Two final in 2012. They beat Tyrone in that decider and are desperate to get back to those levels after a disappointing few seasons under Glenn Ryan. It's early days yet under his replacement, Brian Flanagan, but 12 wins from 15 competitive games in 2025 has yielded promotion back to Division Two as well as their return to the All-Ireland SFC in 2026. Limerick's Tommie Childs is tackled by Kildare's Brendan Gibbons and Brian Byrne during the Tailteann Cup Final at Croke Park. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho 'We have a really united panel, a really ambitious panel and one that sees this as just the start of something,' said Flanagan. 'This isn't the end by any means of anything – it is just purely the beginning. It is year one of what we hope will be four or maybe more. 'Winning was so, so important, and lifting silverware, so that you had in your mentality, so you had it in your psyche going forward because there's much bigger challenges that lie ahead for us. 'We're going to Division Two next year and we now have Sam Maguire Cup football nailed on. What this year has done is proven that we deserve to be there. We've earned our spot in both of them. And we didn't get it easy, we had to beat the best teams.' Limerick manager Jimmy Lee insisted that he has 'no regrets' about how things turned out. But his side were two ahead with 20 minutes to go after goals from captain Cillian Fahy and Killian Ryan. Between the 20th and 48th minutes, they outscored Kildare by 1-12 to 0-6 to take control of the game and nudge two points clear, 2-15 to 1-16. Point attempts that dropped short, others that flew wide, and three goal chances overall that weren't converted all came back to haunt Limerick, ruining their bid to become the first Division Four team to win the Tailteann Cup. Instead it was Kildare who became the third Leinster team in the four-season history of the B championship to claim the silverware. KILDARE: C Burke; B Byrne, R Burke, H O'Neill; T Gill (0-0-1), D Hyland, J McGrath; K Feely (0-0-2, 1f), B Gibbons; C Bolton (0-1-0), D Kirwan (0-2-4), C Dalton (0-0-2); R Sinkey (0-0-3), A Beirne (1-0-2), D Flynn (0-0-1). Subs: J McKevitt for McGrath and B McLoughlin (0-1-1) for Gibbons (both 43 mins); E Cully for Flynn (47); M O'Grady for Burke (66). LIMERICK: J Ryan (0-1-1, 1 tpf, 1 45); J Hassett, D O'Doherty, M McCarthy; K Ryan (1-0-1), I Corbett (0-0-1), T McCarthy (0-0-3); T Childs (0-0-1), D O'Hagan; P Maher, C Fahy (1-0-1), D Neville (0-0-1); E Rigter (0-0-2), J Naughton (0-0-2, 2f), P Nash (0-0-3, 1f). Subs: B Coleman for Childs (16-20 mins, blood); D Murray for O'Hagan (43); Coleman for Maher (47); R Childs for Rigter (55); T Ó Siochrú for Corbett (61); R O'Brien (0-0-1) for T Childs (66). Referee: L Devenney (Mayo).


Irish Independent
29 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
As it happened – Kerry v Tyrone: Kingdom beat nemesis to seal All-Ireland football final spot
Match Finished No qualms with that outcome. Kerry kept tipping away with a host of impressive performances from Joe O'Connor, Seanie O'Shea, Paudie Clifford and David Clifford - the latter casually chipped in with 1-9 of the Kingdom total. Tyrone kept the pace until the 42nd-minute where thereafter their challenge faded rapidly. They went 20 minutes without a score and managed to add some late consolation points to improve the look of the scoreboard. Jack O'Connor leads the Kingdom into his eighth All-Ireland final decider. Meanwhile, Joe O'Connor has been named man of the match. 67' Substitution Tyrone Substituted out Seanie O'Donnell Substituted in Michael O'Neill A late change in the Tyrone half-forward line as O'Neill gets a run out. 67' The An Ghaeltacht man picks up a yellow card for a high challenge on Darragh Canavan. 66' Point Tyrone Scorer Darragh Canavan The Errigal Ciaran man fires over a quick free as Tyrone hang on to the Kerry coattails here. 65' Substitution Kerry Substituted out Paudie Clifford Substituted in Tony Brosnan Jack O'Connor is taking no risks with the Fossa man who is hooked off with 65 minutes in the legs. 65' Point Tyrone Scorer Seanie O'Donnell Brian Kennedy fields a long ball into the edge of the parallelogram but there's no route to goal through the sea of green and gold jerseys. He lays it off to Seanie O'Donnell who settles for the point. Their 20-minute scoreless spell comes to an end. 63' Point Kerry Scorer David Clifford Tyrone are fading rapidly here, evidenced by their breach of the three-up rule. Tired minds and all that. David Clifford rubs salt into the wounds with a routine free. 62' Substitution Kerry Substituted out Mike Breen Substituted in Tadhg Morley A double change for the Kingdom as Michael Burns replaces Sean O'Brien. 60' Point Kerry Scorer Killian Spillane The goal chance was on there as Niall Morgan was caught off his line. Killian Spillane does enough to shrug off Cormac Quinn and takes the simple point. Tyrone's shooting woes continue at the other end as McKernan misses again prior to Spillane's point. 60' Point Kerry Scorer Seán O'Shea More patient play from Kerry as Mike Breen punches the hole in the Tyrone half-back line, turns to spot Seanie O'Shea in space. The Kenmare Shamrock's man registers his third score of the evening. 57' Point Kerry Scorer David Clifford On the other hand, Kerry make it look easy. Seanie O'Shea kicks it in to David Clifford who skips past Hampsey and takes his point. Tyrone scoreless for over 14 minutes now. 56' Substitution Tyrone Substituted out Eoin McElholm Substituted in Ruairí Canavan Here comes Ruairi Canavan who was effective off the bench against Dublin. Eoin McElholm departs - he had a big first-half but faded away in this second-half. 54' Tyrone's shooting accuracy has taken a real beating in the last few minutes as Harte racks up another wide. They haven't scored since the 42nd-minute now. Concerning times for Malachy O'Rourke. 52' Yellow Card Kerry Player David Clifford The Fossa man is also brandished with the yellow by Joe McQuillan. A net win for the forward considering McKernan will be marking him. 52' Yellow Card Tyrone Player Michael McKernan A yellow for the Tyrone sub for his part in the scuffle. 51' Point Kerry Scorer Paudie Clifford A bit of an off the ball fracas breaks out between David Clifford and Michael McKernan, however David's brother Paudie takes initiative into his own hands and extends the Kingdom lead. Live Blog Software


Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Leona Maguire just four behind in major quest at Evian Championship
The Co Cavan star (30) added a one-under 70 to rounds of 65 and 71 to share 12th place on seven-under par at Evian Resort. England's Cara Gainer and Australia's Gabriela Ruffels share the lead on 11-under par with the top 20 on the leaderboard covered by just five strokes. Maguire went into the third round hoping to hit more fairways and give herself more birdie chances. But while she hit 10 of 13 fairways and missed only two greens in regulation, she made little with the putter in terms of progressing up the leaderboard until late in her round. After failing to get up and down for par at the short second, the Solheim Cup star birdied the sixth but dropped another shot after missing another green at the par-three eighth. She finished strongly, however, rolling in birdies at the 210-yard 14th and the short par-four 17th to finish in a seven-way tie for 12th and give herself a chance on the final day in an event where she closed with a stunning 61 in 2021 to finish sixth. Gainer, who was third in the Jabra Ladies Open at Evian Resort earlier this season, made an eagle at the seventh and added six birdies in a seven-under 64 to share the lead. 'I made a great par save on the first, which really settled my nerves', said the LET winner. 'Then I made a great putt on the second hole for birdie. I think one-under through two, kind of settled me down and I rolled a nice putt in again on four. 'My eagle putt was definitely a highlight of the day. I hit a great drive, a great hybrid into the green - about ten feet and holed the putt.' ADVERTISEMENT Ruffels got off to a shaky start with a bogey on the first but bounced back with a birdie and the second and added five more to card an impressive 66. They lead by a shot from Australian duo Minjee Lee and Grace Kim, Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul, and South Korea's Somi Lee. Japan's Yuri Yoshida shot 63 to share seventh with South Africa's Casandra Alexander on nine-under while France's Nastasia Nadaud, South Korea's Jenny Shin, and Hye-Jin Choi are a further shot back in joint ninth on eight-under par. On the HotelPlanner Tour, Max Kennedy double-bogeyed the 17th and shot a one-under 69 that left him six shots off the lead heading into the final round of the D+D REAL Czech Challenge. The Dubliner is tied for 20th on 12-under behind Australia's Danny List and Spain's Albert Boneta, who head the field by two strokes on 17 under at Royal Beroun. Meanwhile, Ireland suffered playoff heartbreak for the second day running and lost 4-3 to England in the bronze medal match at the European Men's Amateur Team Championship in Killarney. Just 24 hours after losing on the 19th to Denmark in the semi-finals, the hosts trailed 2-0 after the morning foursomes following 4&3 defeats for Stuart Grehan and Caolan Rafferty and Thomas Higgins and John Doyle. Singles wins by Stuart Grehan and Matt McClean, and a one-hole defeat for Higgins to Weaver made it 3-3. The other two matches went to the 19th, but Ireland could only win one. Doyle beat Luke Poulter, the son of Ryder Cup legend Ian, to level the scores, but Rafferty fell at the first extra hole to Charlie Foster. Italy, who were champions on home soil in 1999, claimed the title for the second time with a resounding 6-1 over Denmark in the gold medal match.. Spain won the European Ladies' Team Championship with a 4.5-2.5 win over France at Golf de Chantilly, where Ireland beat England 3-2 to finish fifth.