Aoife Wafer will make her first appearance at the Women's Rugby World Cup against France on Sunday after recovering from injury.
The 22-year-old underwent knee surgery at the start of July but has now completed her rehabilitation and takes her place in the back row for the quarter-final at Exeter’s Sandy Park.
The Six Nations player of the tournament will have the 7 shirt but usually packs down at 8 on Ireland’s scrum put-in.
The news is a huge boost for Scott Bemand’s squad, who suffered a 40-0 loss to New Zealand in their final Pool C game last weekend.
"She's a class player," Bemand told RTÉ Sport at the team hotel on Friday morning.
"We've all wanted to see her back on pitch.
"She's been desperate, desperate to get back out there and give some of herself to the cause that we're undertaking.
"She's worked incredibly hard behind the scenes, and there's been an incredible amount of support for her in getting her back to this point.
"We're fully confident she's fit and ready. She's desperate to get onto the pitch. Now it's just time to let it go."
Aoife Wafer trained with Ireland at University of Exeter ahead of Sunday's #WRWC2025 quarter-final against France #RTERugby #RTESport https://t.co/GcpBuWxlXT pic.twitter.com/K6e7ij3jwC
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 10, 2025
Fiona Tuite, who also missed the defeat to Black Ferns with a leg issue, returns to the side at blindside flanker.
Stacey Flood, who suffered a nasty cut to her foot in that game, has been passed fit to take her place at full-back, while co-captain Edel McMahon, also injured in that tie, misses out on the 23.
"Edel misses out through injury is the long and the short of it," added Bemand.
"We'll miss her leadership. We’ll miss her ability to go and bank people in defence.
"Unfortunately, she's not quite recovered from last week's hit-out against New Zealand.
"What we have got is some firepower.
"We've been growing the depth, bringing Fiona back in this week. She's completely fine now, recovered from getting a bump in game two.
"She's back fully firing. It gives us lineout options. It gives us carrying options.
"Stacey picked up a cut against New Zealand. So again, medical team have been on top of her, and she's fully fit and ready to go."
The front row remains unchanged with Niamh O’Dowd, Neve Jones and Linda Djougang named to start.
Captain Sam Monaghan and Ruth Campbell start in the second row, with Brittany Hogan at number 8.
The backline is the same as lined out in Brighton last weekend.
Aoibheann Reilly and Dannah O’Brien are the half-backs with Eve Higgins and Aoife Dalton in the centre.
Béibhinn Parsons, Amee-Leigh Costigan and Flood form the back three.
Loosehead prop Ellena Perry, who was a late withdrawal from the starting XV last Sunday, is named on the bench alongside forwards Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Sadhbh McGrath, Eimear Corri-Fallon and Grace Moore.
Emily Lane, Enya Breen and Anna McGann are the backline options in reserve.
The game kicks off at 1pm.
Ireland have lost their last eight games against France. Asked about how to close the gap, Bemand said: "There's going to be bits to your game that you've not wanted opposition to see, as well as our own ability to learn as we go through a competition.
"There'll be some bits they've not seen. Of course there will, I'm probably not going to tell you exactly what that is but we'll give them some challenges.
"Do we know them pretty well?
"Yeah, we're lucky we get to go against France fairly regularly within the Six Nations.
"And if you look at what we've done over the last two years, we've definitely closed the gap. We got to now just convert that into points and a result."
Meanwhile, France have made two changes to the side that hammered South Africa in their final Pool D game.
Both changes come in the backline, with Morgane Bourgeois replacing Emilie Boulard at full-back.
Kelly Arbey starts on the left wing, with Marine Menager moving to the centre and Nassira Konde dropping out of the matchday squad.
Ireland: Stacey Flood; Béibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe; Dannah O'Brien, Aoibheann Reilly; Niamh O'Dowd, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang; Ruth Campbell, Sam Monaghan (capt); Fiona Tuite, Aoife Wafer, Brittany Hogan.
Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Ellena Perry, Sadhbh McGrath, Eimear Corr-Fallon, Grace Moore, Emily Lane, Enya Breen, Anna McGann.
France: Morgane Bourgeois; Joanna Grisez, Marine Menager, Gabrielle Vernier, Kelly Arbey; Lina Queyroi, Pauline Bourdon Sansus; Yllana Brosseau, Agathe Gerin, Rose Bernadou; Mane Feleu, Madoussou Fall Raclot; Axelle Berthoumieu, Lea Champon, Charlotte Escudero
Replacements: Manon Bigot, Annaelle Deshaye, Assia Khalfaoui, Hina Ikahehgi, Seraphine Okemba, Teani Feleu, Alexandra Chambon, Emilie Boulard
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Watch Ireland v France in the Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final on Sunday from 12.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio. All other quarter-finals on RTÉ Player
