Ireland star Aoife Wafer staying put but reveals English interest

Ireland back row Aoife Wafer has revealed that she turned down offers from English clubs in order to stay with Leinster.

The 21-year-old was the breakout star of the Six Nations last spring and was twice named Player of the Round as Ireland finished third in the table and qualified for next year's World Cup.

The Wexford woman was nominated for Player of the Championship and named on the Team of the Championship.

Wafer made her seasonal debut off the bench, coming on for just 25 minutes in a pre-arranged cameo, for Tania Rosser’s Leinster outfit on Saturday as they hammered Ulster in the Women's Interprovincial Championship.

A physiotherapy student in UCD and on an IRFU contract, Wafer revealed there was contact with a number of Premiership Women's Rugby [PWR] clubs following her exploits in March and April.

"Yeah, they were, they definitely were," she said without naming any of the interested parties.

"I guess at the end of the day it probably just wasn’t the right time for me just yet.

"It was definitely something I considered but I decided to stay in Ireland and play a bit more rugby here and get another year of college done as well."

While she is happy where she is for the moment, Wafer added that it’s something she would revisit down the line.

"At the end of the day, I’m only 21 so I still have a lot of time and hopefully I’ll be able to keep up playing good rugby to potentially in the future take that opportunity," she said.

"You look at the Premiership and the amount of world-class players that they have in it.

"But I also think when you look at Ireland, we’re still growing in terms of the Celtic Challenge and the inter-provincials and that kind of thing.

"But you can’t deny the amount of talent that the Prem' has in all of