Aaron Wainwright (born 25 September 1997) is a Wales international rugby union player who plays for

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

regional team as a flanker.

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 , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

and played in the BUCS Super Rugby tournament.

Club career

Wainwright made his debut for the Dragons regional team in 2017 having previously played for Newport RFC. 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, 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 the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

52–32 on 25 April 2021.

International career

Wainwright made his debut for the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

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 match ...

quarter-final against

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at the

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. 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. In November 2019 he replaced Warren Gatland as the Wales national team coach. A former sworn officer in the New Zealand Police, he was a constable at the Takapuna police station on A ...

, 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 Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

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, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

, as Wales won the title and the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

. Wainwright continued to feature for Wales throughout the 2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals and 2022 Six Nations, 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.

International tries

References

External links

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Dragons profileWales profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Aaron Welsh rugby union players Dragons RFC players 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