Assistant coach Denis Fogarty insists that Ireland are confident talismanic forward Aoife Wafer will be fit to return to action at some stage during the upcoming World Cup.
The 2025 Six Nations Player of the Year recently underwent a procedure for a knee injury sustained during the pre-season and is a major doubt for Ireland's pool stage clashes with Japan, Spain and New Zealand.
Wafer tore her posterior cruciate ligament against Wales in the Six Nations, and later damaged her medial cruciate ligament upon returning to training, making her a major doubt for the tournament in England, which begins on 22 August.
However, speaking to the media ahead of the World Cup warm-up clash with Scotland on Saturday, Fogarty was optimistic about the chances of the Wexford woman’s return.
"We’re quite confident that she will play some part in the World Cup, which is really pleasing," said Fogarty.
"At the moment she’s tracking really well, it’s making sure it’s right for her, as a player, when she comes back into it.
"She’s got a procedure done so she’s definitely not ruled out of the World Cup yet.
"We’re taking it week by week in terms of when her return to play is, but she’s not ruled out of the World Cup anyway."
Ireland have already suffered hammer blows in losing fellow marquee forwards Erin King and Dorothy Wall after injuries sustained during the Six Nations, but Fogarty accepts that such losses are part and parcel of the game.
"There’s no doubt about it, losing key players like that [Aoife Wafer, Dorothy Wall and Erin King] can be difficult but that’s the nature of the game and sport," he added.
"But we’ve had Sam [Monaghan] come back in which is a big addition for us
"There’s been other girls coming through who have really impressed us throughout the camp as well but with injuries like that they’re always going to come.
"They’re not ideal, going into a World Cup, but it’s something we have to deal and adapt with as well and that is something we have done over the last couple of weeks."
Ireland’s recent evolution under Scott Bemand has been off the back of bolting young talents rising to the challenge of international rugby with ease.
Having coached the Clovers in the recent Celtic Challenge competitions, Fogarty has watched some of the prodigious talent coming through the ranks.
"These young players have come in and have built throughout the number of weeks they’ve been around," he said.
"I would have had a lot of them with Celtic Challenge and known a lot about them.
"It’s an exciting time. The players that are in are well able for this, that’s one side of it. But they’re physically able for it and if they can do it here, they can do it against the teams we are facing."
Hooker Cliodhna Moloney says Ireland are hoping to get the fans on board during their upcoming warm-up games for the World Cup - a tournament Aoife Wafer is now expected to play some part in, despite undergoing knee surgery #RWC2025 pic.twitter.com/YIbLds0vUR
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 30, 2025
Ireland now face into a two-week run of warm-up fixtures ahead of the World Cup. First, they take on Scotland in Virgin Media Park in Cork this coming Saturday, before a difficult assignment against Canada in the Affidea Stadium in Belfast on 9 August.
Scotland defeated Ireland in the final round of the Six Nations back in April, which Fogarty acknowledges will have focused the minds ahead of their next fixture.
"Scotland got one over on us in the last game of the Six Nations, so it's definitely been a focus in making sure we get our performance right," said the former Munster hooker.
"Working on things that we probably didn't get right over the Six Nations, or want to get better at. That’s been the focus of this week."
"Then with Canada being an incredibly physical team with incredible athletes, it will be a really, really big test for us going into the World Cup which is really important for us."
