Aaron James Wainwright (born 25 September 1997) is a Welsh professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a number eight for

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

club

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and the Wales national team.

Early life

Wainwright originally looked destined for a career in football having been on the books of both Cardiff City and Newport County during his teenage years. He was at Cardiff City from Under 9-16 and was included in the Wales Under 16 football squad. Wainwright played youth rugby for Whiteheads RFC. Wainwright attended

Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

and played in the

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tournament.

Club career

Wainwright made his debut for the Dragons regional team in 2017 having previously played for

Newport RFC Newport Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, Wales. They presently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated on the east bank of the River Usk. Ever ...

. The back row completed a clean sweep at the region's end of season awards in May 2019 as he was named the Coaches Player-of-the-Year, Players' Player-of-the-Year and DOSC Player-of-the-Year. From his new position of Number 8, Wainwright scored against the

Ospreys The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It is ...

, as the Dragons won the derby 31–20 on 6 March 2021. His success against regional rivals continued as he touched down twice helping the Dragons beat the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

52–32 on 25 April 2021.

International career

Wainwright made his debut for the Welsh national team on 10 June 2018 versus

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as a second-half replacement. He was named on the bench a week prior for the match against

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, but did not take to the field. He scored his debut international try, on 20 October 2019, as Wales' opening try in the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

quarter-final against

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at the Oita stadium. A foul against him by Sébastien Vahaamahina led to Vahaamahina being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. Wales went on to win the match by one point and Wainwright was named Mastercard Player of the Match. Under new Welsh coach

Wayne Pivac Wayne Pivac (born 1962) is a New Zealand rugby union coach who is the head coach of the Green Rockets Tokatsu, NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu who play in the Japan Rugby League One. In November 2019 he replaced Warren Gatland as the Wales national ru ...

, Wainwright underwent a shift from blindside flanker to Number 8. He was named man of the match in the win against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the 2020 Autumn Nations Series. He featured twice in the

2021 Six Nations Championship The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, ...

, as Wales won the title and the Triple Crown. Wainwright continued to feature for Wales throughout the

2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those ...

and

2022 Six Nations The 2022 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

, primarily at Number 8 but also appearing on the blindside. Injury ruled Wainwright out of the

2022 Wales rugby union tour of South Africa The Wales national rugby union team toured South Africa in July 2022 for a series of three test matches against the South Africa national team. It was the seventh time Wales had toured South Africa in test history. In each of the previous 10 mat ...

, and he was omitted from the squad for the

2022 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2022 end of year rugby union tests, also known as the 2022 Autumn internationals, were a number of rugby union test matches played during the months of October and November. Some of the games were known as the Autumn Nations Series for marketin ...

, but was selected for the

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in their match against the

All Blacks XV The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

Career statistics

List of international tries

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Ōita Bank Dome Crasus Dome Õita is a retractable roof, multi-purpose stadium in the city of Ōita in Ōita Prefecture on Kyushu Island in Japan. The stadium was built for Ōita Prefecture, which still owns it. Design was led by the famous architect Kisho K ...

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References

External links

*
Aaron Wainwright
at

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Aaron Welsh rugby union players Dragons RFC players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Wales international rugby union players Rugby union players from Newport, Wales Newport RFC players Living people 1997 births Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players People educated at Bassaleg School