{"id":493351,"date":"2026-06-11T00:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493351\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T00:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:09:14","slug":"wafer-crowned-six-nations-player-of-the-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493351\/","title":{"rendered":"Wafer crowned Six Nations player of the championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland’s Aoife Wafer has been crowned Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship for the second year running<\/a>, it was announced today.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Wexford woman had another memorable campaign, and fended off the likes of England’s Meg Jones, Italy\u2019s Francesca Sgorbini, and France\u2019s Pauline Bourdon Sansus with over 40% of the public vote.<\/p>\n

Wafer was a key part of a breakthrough year for Scott Bemand’s squad, as they won all three home games, and broke multiple attendance records and that finished third in this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n

She finished the campaign with the second highest number of carries (78) in the Championship, the joint top ranked player for dominant tackles (8), and post contact meters (129), and crossing the try line five times to finish joint third for tries scored throughout the five rounds.<\/p>\n

Wafer was presented the award at a special event at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in London’s Covent Garden earlier today, and told the media that she was incredibly “grateful” to receive the honour again.<\/p>\n

“I don’t even know what to say,” Wafer said on receiving the award.<\/p>\n

“Last year I was the first ever Irish woman and the youngest to do it, and to back it up is pretty special. The girls back home will agree with me that these sort of things don’t happen without them.<\/p>\n

“I’m just grateful that I’m part of an incredible team, and I get to come back to Quins and be a part of an incredible team here too.”<\/p>\n

An opening round defeat to England in Twickenham was followed up with a thumping win over Italy<\/a>, in front of a record breaking ground at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway, where Wafer was on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

Defeat to France in Clermont followed but Ireland rallied to record victories over Wales, in Belfast, and over Scotland in front of 31,294 cheering supporters<\/a> at the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Harlequins number eight scored twice against both the Welsh and the Scots, bringing her try scoring record in the competition to an impressive nine tries in her last nine games.<\/p>\n

Wafer and her teammates will reconvene for an expanded WXV Global Series tournament in the Autumn, with fixtures to be confirmed in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Listen to the RT\u00c9 Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie<\/p>\n

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