Had anyone put forward Aaron Wainwright’s name as a future Lions candidate four years ago the idea would quite possibly have been met by blank stares and the query: “Aaron who?”
Few are on that beat now.
The 21-year-old back-rower, who only started playing rugby in 2015, has just finished a memorable year that saw him pick up eight caps for Wales and complete the treble for the Dragons — player of the season in the eyes of coaches, players and supporters.
His career is only heading one way and it isn’t downwards.
And a further indication of how his reputation is soaring has come with Stuart Barnes naming him as a potential Lions bolter for the tour of South Africa in 2021.
Writing in The Sunday Times, the former England and Lions fly-half picked out Wainwright and former Wales Under-20s back-rower Alex Dombrandt, who has since gone on to pull on the white shirt of England, as two youngsters he expects to be there or thereabouts for the trip headed by Warren Gatland.
Barnes wrote of Dombrandt: “The 22-year-old Harlequin is an exceptional ball-carrier and a thunderous tackler. A man capable of changing a game. I expect him to be a key component of the England team by 2021."
Of Wainwright, he said: “The same applies to the Dragons’ Welsh back-rower, 21, who made his international debut last year, as it does for Dombrandt.
“At least one of them will make the trip.”
Wainwright’s first challenge will be to nail down a regular starting spot in the Wales back-row, an area of Gatland’s squad so competitive that not even Taulupe Faletau is guaranteed a first-choice spot on his return from injury.
But the young Dragon is beginning to build a decent case for himself.
He excelled in the regional derbies in 2018-19, standing out against the Scarlets on Judgement Day and against the Ospreys at Rodney Parade on New Year's Eve. The 6ft 2in, 16st 7lb forward averaged 15 tackles a game over six jousts with Welsh opponents and made just shy of 100 metres with ball in hand.
Wainwright is learning to impose himself on games, too: the match with the Scarlets at the Principality Stadium was just seconds old when he scragged his Wales team-mate Hadleigh Parkes.
Such moments early in matches can have a huge psychological effect on players of both sides.
One occurred back in the day in the heat of a Swansea-Llanelli derby when Alan Reynolds downed Emyr Lewis. A plasterer by trade, Reynolds, it was said, could not have connected more emphatically had he hit his target with a trowel. His team-mate Paul Arnold had one word to say about it afterwards: “Wow.”
So it was after Wainwright had got into Parkes.
Seeing their young team-mate man-handle such a big name appeared to visibly inspire the rest of the Dragons team.
And Wainwright didn’t stop there, going on to put in a further 20 tackles to add to the one on his international buddy.
The former Cardiff City academy player and Newport County prospect is still wearing L-plates as a rugby player, but he is proving a fast learner.
Sent on as a replacement for the injured Ross Moriarty after just 11 minutes against South Africa last autumn, he could easily have been fazed, with the Boks boasting Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Duane Vermeulen in their back row.
But the former Bassaleg School pupil racked up the tackles and stood his ground, even when Vermeulen tried to upset his composure, with the youngster in no way intimidated.
It hardly looked as if he had been playing social rugby with his mates at Whiteheads RFC barely a couple of years earlier.
A major plus is that he is as effective as a carrier as he is as a defender. There are high-level breakdown arts for him to acquire, for sure, but the way he has been banking information over the past year it shouldn’t be beyond him to start taking great leaps forward in that area, too.
Is he a blindside or an openside?
Probably a six, though the Dragons have used him in both positions.
But his versatility is another significant selling point ahead of a Lions tour.
A lot can happen over two seasons.
But the way things are shaping up, Barnes may just be onto something.
