The 22-year-old only started playing rugby at 16 after excelling in football playing for Cardiff City’s academy and then Newport County. And it was at Whiteheads RFC in Newport where Wainwright finally decided to throw his lot in with rugby, playing for the club’s youth team.
His talent was soon spotted for club and school, Bassaleg and the backrow was invited to join the Dragons age grade programme. The rest, as they say is history. However, Wainwright has always stayed close to the Division Three East B side, coaching their youth team and now the senior side alongside head coach Chris Cornford. His involvement lifts players, coaches and volunteers alike.
Current Whiteheads Youth player, Morgan Pugsley, who has been coached by Wainwright said, “Watching Aaron’s progression to the Wales team has inspired teammates of mine to stay on at the club if they were in any doubts at the start of the season. He’s shown it’s possible to progress to the top even if you start at a late age.
“As a group, we want to do as well as we can this season and some of the players have ambitions to step up to a higher level but whatever happens, being part of a youth team is so much more than on-field success. It’s a great way to get out, get to know other players, have a good social life and it’s also a refuge from the stresses of exams and other things we have going on in our lives.
“Everyone’s following Aaron so closely from the club. He’s done so well and can just continue as he has done so far.”
Gwyn Lloyd, a junior coach at the club and District A GMG co-lead added, “We are a very inclusive club, there’s a welcome for anyone, even footballers like Aaron! Seriously, everyone here invests back into the club, from youth players coaching and refereeing the junior sides, to parents volunteering in vital off the field roles. It’s no surprise to see Aaron succeeding at the very top of the world game as he has always strived to improve himself in everything he does.”
Another graduate of Whiteheads, Aaron’s Dragons back-row teammate James Benjamin, believes clubs like Whiteheads have a huge role to play in the development of future Wales internationals.
“It’s massive and clubs like this have a huge role to play,” said Benjamin. “I was a member of the first ever junior side to come through the club about 12 years ago and now there’s hundreds of kids here every Wednesday night. It’s built the club up so much more and the senior team are doing better and better too.
“It’s quite a small club but it’s thriving. It was massive for me because it was the first ever club I joined and it was the first ever club where I picked up a rugby ball.
“It was basically the place where I fell in love with the game. It does get hard sometimes when the boys go off to university but I remember my age group with boys coming back from places like London just to play on the weekends because they love the club.
“They have a bond with the players and the club and now you’re seeing it with the senior team. There are boys who have come back from working life and they are playing week in week out.”
Benjamin is also extremely proud of fellow Whiteheads product Wainwright who has been one of the stars of the Rugby World Cup to date.
And he believes Wainwright is an inspiration for other young players with aspirations of becoming professional rugby players.
“It has been incredible,” said Benjamin. “I remember when he first burst onto the scene with the Dragons two years-ago. How much he’s improved in such a short space of time is incredible.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like it. His attributes physically are there and have always been there.
“That’s perfect for international rugby and he’s honed his skills. Through determination and hard work he’s got to where he is now.”
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