Aoife

France back-row Axelle Berthoumieu has been cited for an alleged bite on Ireland’s Aoife Wafer in Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final.

France were trailing 13-0 at the time of the incident but recovered to take the win and will face England next.

Any retrospective action after a citing review could see the French back row handed a ban that may rule her out of the semi-final.

READ MORE: ‘Disgrace’ – France player cited after alleged bite

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Women’s Rugby World Cup – Pool C: Ireland v New Zealand

Venue: Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium Date: Sunday, 7 September Kick-off: 14:45 BST

Coverage: Live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from 14:30, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra from 14:30 and BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle from 14:00; also live with text commentary on the BBC Sport website.

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says he is “confident” Aoife Wafer will be ready for a World Cup quarter-final after resisting the urge to include her for Sunday’s final Pool C game against New Zealand in Brighton.

The back row is yet to feature in the competition because of pre-tournament knee surgery and although she was considered for Sunday’s game against the defending champions, the Irish camp has erred on the side of caution.

Bemand confirmed there was a temptation to introduce the Wexford woman for the meeting with the Black Ferns, but with either France or South Africa to come next week, having the Women’s Six Nations player of the tournament ready for then takes priority.

“All the way through there has been a bit of a plan around Aoife, from the very beginning to her joining up with the group a couple of days after we arrived, and everything is tracking and trending,” Bemand said.

“Aoife is back in training, she’s doing well, and she’s desperate to be involved.

“We considered picking her this week, but we’ve made a decision as her best opportunity and the team’s best opportunity, is to go hard in training again next week and we’ll see where that stands us for the following week.

“I’m really confident and if you look in her eyes you can see she is really confident as well.”

Aoife Wafer has been ruled out of Ireland’s opening Women’s Rugby World Cup match against Japan as she continues her comeback from knee surgery.

The 2025 Women’s Six Nations player of the tournament underwent a procedure last month which caused her to miss Ireland’s warm-up games against Scotland and Canada and she has not yet travelled to England with her team-mates.

The 22-year-old back row was named in head coach Scott Bemand’s squad last week but is not fit enough to feature against Japan on Sunday (12:00 BST) and has remained in Dublin to work on her recovery.

As per the rules of the competition, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) had to inform World Rugby that Wafer had not departed with the squad as players cannot return home during the tournament window to treat injuries as it would be viewed as unfair on those squads who have greater distances to travel.

Following their opener in Fraklin’s Gardens, Ireland face Spain on 31 August and back-to-back world champions New Zealand on 7 September in their other Pool C games and the side’s assistant coach Larissa Muldoon confirmed that Wafer will join the team next week” in preparation looking into Spain.”

Co-captain Edel McMahon, who also did not feature in either of Ireland’s warm-up fixtures, is with the squad and according to Muldoon “came through training” on Tuesday with no issues.

Wafer, who will join Harlequins from Leinster after the tournament in England, scored four tries for Ireland in the Six Nations but missed the last game of the championship after damaging knee ligaments against Wales.

Her fitness has become increasingly significant for Ireland following injuries to fellow back rowers Dorothy Wall and Erin King, who will both miss the World Cup.

Muldoon, however, has confidence in Ireland’s depth at the position.

“People forget the like of Claire Boles have come back in, Ivana Kiripati has come through the under-20s pathway,” added the former international scrum-half.

“[We have] amazing players coming through and giving us that element of competition in our training environment and identity.”