Ireland’s Aoife Wafer has been named the 2026 Women’s Six Nations player of the championship, becoming the first player to win the award back-to-back. Her outstanding individual performances helped Ireland finish third in this year’s tournament.
Wafer was on a shortlist alongside England captain Meg Jones, France scrumhalf Pauline Bourdon Sansus, and Italy backrow Francesca Sgorbini.
Although the winner was chosen from the shortlist by fans – Wafer claiming 40 per cent of the 15,000 votes cast – the nominees were shortlisted having topped the statistics charts over the course of the tournament.
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The 23-year-old Irish backrow amassed the second highest number of carries (78), was the joint top player for dominant tackles (eight) and post-contact metres (129), as well as finishing joint third for tries scored, claiming five tries over the five rounds.
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Wafer gave a star performance in Ireland’s final fixture, a 54-5 win over Scotland, earning herself the player of the match award in front of a record crowd of 31,294 fans, the biggest crowd ever for a stand-alone women’s rugby fixture at the Aviva Stadium.
“Last year I was the first ever Irish woman and the youngest to do it, and to back it up is special,” said Wafer of winning the 2026 award. “I’m just grateful that I’m part of an incredible team, and I get to come back to Harlequins and be a part of an incredible team here too.”
Meanwhile, Sana Govender will succeed Ben Martin as head coach of the Leinster Women’s senior team ahead of this summer’s Interprovincial Championship.
Govender got his start coaching the first ever girls team at his local club, Skibbereen RFC, taking them from under-15 to under-18, and also helped establish the club’s first senior women’s team.
In 2018, he began working with Munster Rugby in various roles, first as an assistant coach and then as head coach of the girls’ under-18 Sevens team. He also won an interprovincial title as an assistant coach for the province’s under-18 girls’ 15s side before being appointed skills coach with the senior provincial team.
Govender was appointed attack and backs coach for the Ireland under-18 girls ahead of the 2024 Six Nations campaign before taking up a position at the semi-professional Polish side RC Lechia Gdańsk. He returned to Ireland a year later, taking role in the Leinster Branch as head coach and rugby development officer in TU Dublin, as well as providing performance analysis and skills support for CBC Monkstown. Most recently, he guided Railway Union to the semi-finals of the All-Ireland League.
Govender will be joined by a coaching staff which includes head of the women’s national talent squad Matt Gill, who served as Leinster’s set piece coach in last year’s Interpros and previously worked with Govender during their time with the Irish under-18 girls.
