Warren Gatland was listening to his forwards coach, Robin McBryde, offer a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the Wales forwards in the run-up to the Barbarians match against Wales in Cardiff two months ago. They had been part of the home side’s management for 12 years, finishing after the World Cup in Japan a few weeks before, and were talking about players they knew intimately.
Gatland, Wales’s most successful head coach since the halcyon days of the 1970s, was largely silent until it came to the No 8, Aaron Wainwright, a player he had capped from almost nowhere 17 months before. “He has only played the game for about five years,” he said during the team meeting that was part of a RugbyPass video documentary, Inside the Barbarians. “He was in a football academy. He has got a little bit of X factor about him and is going to be special. He’s quick, got great footwork, is intelligent and works hard.”
The 22-year old Wainwright is preparing for his second Six Nations campaign. He was used from the bench late on in four matches last year, starting against Italy on the blindside, the position the back-rower will occupy against the same opponents at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. He was auditioning then for a place in Wales’s World Cup squad, but is now a fixture in a side that does not lack options in his position, not that he sees it like that.
“I do not think I had any credit in the bank after the World Cup,” he said. “There is so much strength in depth in the back row in Wales that you have to fight for your place. It pushes you in training and when a new coaching team comes in you know they will make a decision based on what they have seen. Wayne [Pivac, Gatland’s successor] is not someone who gives much away. He wants to change things and has made some adjustments to the daily routine: I was only involved in the last 18 months of Gatland but he was there for so long that a number of the boys do not know any different.”
Wainwright started the World Cup little known outside Wales, but finished it as one of the contenders for the team of the tournament, an all-action forward equally effective in defence and attack. He is unassuming off the field, happy to blend into the background. With his large black glasses, he has an academic air and is most comfortable talking about subjects other than himself, such as the football team he supports, Arsenal.
“When I was with Cardiff City’s academy, I met Patrick Vieira,” he said. “He was doing his coaching badges [in Wales] and did a bit with us and had a chat. I have been an Arsenal supporter since I was a kid and it was an inspirational day for me. He was a really nice guy.”
Wainwright is enthused by the club’s 18-year-old Brazilian striker, Gabriel Martinelli, and yearns for someone to prevent Liverpool emulating the 2003-04 Invincibles. “They still have to come to the Emirates. It will be their year, but I hope they don’t go through the league season unbeaten.
“I played football until I was 17. When I stopped, I had a number of friends who played rugby and joined them. I started on the wing because the coaches were scared to throw me into the forwards straight away, but a few months later there I was.” In less than two years, he was playing for Newport and in 2017 made his debut for the Dragons; eight months later he was winning his first cap in Argentina. He has played in all three positions in the back row, No 6 and No 8 for Wales and No 7 for the Dragons last season.
“It is good to add strings to your bow,” he said. “I have played a lot at 8 this season, which helps my development as you get your hands on the ball more there, but I see myself as more of a 6. I have been working on my jackalling with Sam Warburton [Wales’s breakdown coach] and want to add that to my game. He is big on choosing your moment, looking for opportunities. If you think you can get your hands on the ball, even if just to slow it down, you have done half the job. With the game becoming more free-flowing, the more turnovers the better.”
Wainwright appeared in Wales’s first six matches at the World Cup, missing the third-place play-off against New Zealand through injury. “It was the longest I had been away from home,” he said. “I did not get homesick but I did miss being around friends and family. They gave us a lot of time to chill out and would cheer up anyone feeling down. It was a great experience and Japan was brilliant. The end was disappointing for us, but overall it was a very good tournament.”
Wainwright has had to get used to two new coaches this season with Dean Ryan in charge of the Dragons and turning around what was the weakest of Wales’s four regions. “He stresses the need to be confident in your ability and has been really good for me. He is calm when he needs to be, but there are times when he shows why he has a hard man reputation. The Dragons work closely with the Wales coaches and it helps with the changes Wayne is looking to make. We will be a bit more attacking, but we showed last year that we are tough mentally, capable of handling anything that comes our way, and that will not be missing.”
He raises his eyebrows quizzically when told a bottom-half finish has been widely predicted for the champions. “We have been through a lot together,” is his eventual, almost whispered response. “Our mentality will count again.”
