Aoife Wafer will miss Ireland’s two WXV Global Series Tests against South Africa in Cape Town after being ruled out and will not travel with Scott Bemand’s 30-player squad. BBC Sport reported that the Harlequins player, who had already missed Ireland’s recent wins over Japan, will not be involved in the fixtures on 24 and 31 October, while second row Ruth Campbell has returned from an ankle injury.
Wafer’s continued absence removes a player who has twice been named Women’s Six Nations player of the tournament from Ireland’s touring group. The 23-year-old had sat out the back-to-back victories over Japan in Galway and Cork after sustaining what the Irish Rugby Football Union described as a minor injury in training. The squad announcement confirms that she will not travel to South Africa.
Ireland will be captained by Erin King for the two-match visit. Bemand has selected 17 forwards and 13 backs, including a group of recently capped players in Beth Buttimer, Jemima Adams Verling, Kate Jordan, Sophie Barrett and Alana McInerney.
The squad split confirms that forwards make up the larger part of the 30-player group, by four players. Campbell is included in that 17-player forward contingent following her ankle injury, while Wafer and Sam Monaghan are unavailable for the tour.
Wafer and Monaghan remain unavailable
Wafer and former co-captain Sam Monaghan are both unavailable for the tour. Wafer missed the Japan wins, while Monaghan remains unavailable with an Achilles injury, according to BBC Sport.
Campbell returns from an ankle injury and is included among the 17 forwards. Dorothy Wall, Eilis Cahill and Fiona Tuite-O’Sullivan are also among the forwards selected.
The named group includes players from Gloucester-Hartpury, Exeter Chiefs, Sale Sharks and Trailfinders Women. Alongside Harlequins player Wafer’s absence, the named group includes Gloucester-Hartpury forwards Neve Jones and Niamh O’Dowd, Exeter Chiefs pair Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Dorothy Wall, and Sale Sharks forward Brittany Hogan. Trailfinders Women player Niamh Gallagher is among the backs.
The club details also show that the named players are drawn from a range of teams. Jones and O’Dowd are both listed with Gloucester-Hartpury, while Moloney-MacDonald and Wall are both attached to Exeter Chiefs. Hogan is listed with Sale Sharks and Gallagher with Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby.
Ireland’s travelling squad
The squad list includes 17 forwards: Buttimer, Hogan, Moloney-MacDonald, Wall, Cahill, King, Tuite-O’Sullivan, Grace Moore, Jane Clohessy, Adams Verling, Jordan, Linda Djougang, Jones, O’Dowd, Campbell, Sadhbh McGrath and Barrett.
The 13 backs are McInerney, Anna McGann, Aoibheann Reilly, Aoife Dalton, Beibhinn Parsons, Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane, Enya Breen, Eve Higgins, Gallagher, Robyn O’Connor, Stacey Flood and Vicky Elmes Kinlan. King is the designated captain of the touring party.
South Africa fixtures follow Japan wins
The Cape Town matches come after Ireland’s two victories over Japan, with the squad having completed a remote training week following those games. BBC Sport reported that the players will return to the IRFU High Performance Centre on Monday before travelling to South Africa on Thursday.
The matches are scheduled for 24 and 31 October.
Ireland’s previous meeting with South Africa was at the 2006 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Canada, when Ireland won 37-0. That result is the only prior head-to-head figure supplied in the squad announcement and is too distant to be treated as a guide to the coming fixtures. Its practical relevance is instead that the Cape Town games renew an international pairing that Ireland have not faced in the intervening period cited by BBC Sport.
Campbell returns at second row, while Wafer and Monaghan remain unavailable. King will captain a group that includes several recently capped players.