Aoife Wafer's 'whirlwind' journey set for Twickenham stage

Much like her running style, Aoife Wafer has hit the Guinness Women's Six Nations like a wrecking ball.

Through three games, the 21-year-old has racked up a remarkable stats sheet.

In last Saturday's 36-5 win against Wales, Wafer scored a try and was named Player of the Match, which led to a second successive Player of the Round award in the championship.

With 38 carries logged across her three games, only Sam Monaghan and France's Assia Khalfaoui have brought the ball into contact more.

A look under the bonnet of those carries shows how efficient she is with the ball; her 17 broken tackles ranks highest in the championship, while she's the only non-English player to have made more than five linebreaks.

She's covered 304 metres with the ball in hand, but crucially 190 of those metres have been over the gainline, ranking fifth in the championship, but more impressively she's one of just two forwards in the top 15 of that metric.

"It's a bit of a whirlwind really," she says, as she reflects on what has been a breakthrough tournament, which began away to France two days before her 21st birthday last month.

Wafer may have exploded onto the scene in this championship, but had it not been for a lengthy absence, she'd likely have been an established player by now.

She was just 19 years old when she was given her debut by former coach Greg McWilliams in Round 3 of the 2022 championship, before a serious hamstring injury delayed her second cap until October of last year.

"I got on the pitch, got a yellow card and came off the pitch," she laughs, as she reflects on her fleeting debut in Cork two years ago.

"I got back on the pitch, got a turnover, and then the match was done. Then I had to sing in front of Musgrave Park [Party in the USA by