Quins have at last added a top name to their list of tween-season signings. Aoife Wafer leaves Leinster for the PWR.
All Quins fans will be delighted by the news. They have suffered long enough with their side failing to hit the jackpot since their solitary trophy win in 2021 – and that was after finishing third in the table.
So the denuding of Celtic clubs and provinces continues unabated. From an Irish perspective, it’s a relief that she plays for much the strongest province, Leinster. Come the next Inter-pros, they will be only marginally inconvenienced by this loss.
Quins have been using their now traditional drip-drip revelations of the latest player to join the throng – one at a time. Over recent weeks I have spotted the names of Coreen Grant (Scotland and Saracens), Lucy Burgess (Bristol Bears), Fi McIntosh (Scotland and Saracens), Natasha Logan (Scotland 6N squad), Sophie Tansley (Saracens) and Megan Barwick (Trailfinders Women).
They comprise a fascinating group: three from Scotland, underlining that nation’s ongoing failure to build a native league strong enough to retain its best players; three making the switch across London from NW4, involving two clubs who are supposed to be sworn enemies, (but Jess Breach and Rosie Galligan have made the same move, to mention only two). Others may have felt they weren’t getting enough playing-time at their previous PWR club.
With all due respect to these six players, they can’t hold a candle to Wafer, who has recently been declared the Six Nations Player of the Tournament. She is an outstanding acquisition for the Stoop.
Hail and Farewell
On 6 May Quins issued a statement confirming the departure of no fewer than fifteen players. Some were retiring (Harriet Millar-Mills), others returning home (Bablawa Latsha, Kaitlan Leaney), some presumably found surplus to requirements (too many to enumerate).
It underlines clubs’ delight in getting players to sign on for another season. The trumpeted concept of “one happy family” stretches only so far. The fact is that players are constantly on the move, mostly during the summer break.
Last year Quins published a list of 60 players, including two special categories: Senior Development and Surrey University Pathway players.
Glancing down the list I spot the names of seventeen players not qualified to play for England. That brings us back to the ongoing dilemma: how to limit the number of NEQPs, if at all? We still await the PWR board’s latest verdict.
There we have one of the intractable problems of current structures: only 23 players can play each weekend, but clubs must have reserve stock available. How to keep them all satisfied? The reduction from ten to nine clubs has already reduced the number of matches available. Managements have to find ways of satisfying the ambitions of all their players.
Despite all the riches of their enlisted players Quins finished third last season, seven points behind Sarries, and they lost 32-24 to them in the knock-out semi-final. It’s tough at the top.
Wafer is excited to compete for a place in a Quins back-row, already blessed with the presence of Jade Konkel and Alex Callender. The wonder is: with all these strengths, how come Quins managed to lose five matches last year? Answer: the strength of the clubs above them (Gloucester-Hartpury and Sarries) is even greater.
Once more I recall the thoughts of Nigel Melville, long ago, in answer to the widely criticised inequalities of the Premier 15s in its early days. In so many words he said: we may need to ‘invite’ players to switch clubs – (kicking and screaming?)
It hasn’t come to that yet.
Have Quins got more signings up their sleeve, a few disgruntled Black Ferns, perhaps?
