How rejection by the Wainwright on road

THE path to pulling on the coveted Welsh jersey is seldom simple, no matter what the sport.

But by any standards, Aaron Wainwright’s rise to international stardom is particularly extraordinary.

The 20-year-old back-rower’s sparkling showings during what was otherwise a horribly-disappointing season for the Dragons was enough to convince Warren Gatland to include him in his squad for the summer games against South Africa and Argentina.

Wainwright made his debut as a replacement in the second Test thumping of the Pumas and was one of the many Wales young guns to put put down a marker for the World Cup.

For the vast majority of Welsh youngsters, that first time of pulling on the Three Feathers would be the culmination of a dream from years of playing age-grade rugby.

Wainwright is different from his peers such as Ellis Jenkins, Adam Beard, Tomos Williams, Owen Watkin and Dillon Lewis, who also proved their credentials to Gatland on the tour.

Unlike them, Wainwright had barely played a game of rugby until three years ago – a sport he only took up after being rejected as a starryeyed football hopeful with Cardiff City.

Has any rugby player in the history of the game made such startling strides so quickly?

Wainwright’s incredible story has been documented in new YouTube documentary, which has been put together by his close friend Daniel Rees, who is studying television production at the University of Gloucestershire.

The 10-minute video sees Wainwright talk about the anguish of his Bluebirds rejection, how he only began playing rugby to be with his mates at youth level with Whiteheads in Newport and also has coaches involved in his development outlining the special qualities that make him tick.

Wainwright’s first love was football and he came through the Bluebirds Academy with Regan Poole, who has since joined Manchester United.

The two were each told four years ago they weren’t good enough and instead moved on briefly to Newport County. Their paths since could not be more contrasting. Poole went to Old Trafford, Wainwright moved into rugby and has become the most recent international to be capped by Wales.

“When I didn’t get offered a contract with Cardiff City, I was 16 and really disappointed,” Wainwright reflects. “We had a sit down, they said ‘We’re not going to offer you anything, you’ll have to look elsewhere.’

“It was shock, I guess. You had been playing football since seven or eight years of age and they are telling you the club you have been at for so much time are not going to let you stay on.

“It was gutting. I didn’t know whether to cry, I was quite sad and I just walked off.”

Welsh football’s loss was very much Welsh rugby’s gain as suddenly Wainwright opted to try his hand at the oval ball game. He could not possibly have envisaged how it would pan out.

Walking around the pitch at the Newport community club a few years on, he explains: “My friends from school were playing youth rugby at Whiteheads and asked me to go there and train.

“So I went down and met the coaches, had a nice warm-up and they told me to just train and play on Saturdays.

“I really enjoyed coming down and playing and then going back into the clubhouse to chill out with my mates. I had a lot of good games down here, home and away.

“I think back to my first game. I was really nervous about coming on because it was the first rugby game with my mates with people watching on the sidelines. I went on and scored.

“Things like that you look back on and think about what a big impact they have throughout your career.”

Tyrone Powell, youth coach at the club, has fond memories of Wainwright’s spell in the team.

“I remember the first training session he turned up to,” he recalls. “Obviously he came here because he was in school with his mates and they were down here playing.

“My fellow coaches nicknamed him ‘The Smash.’ Every time he’d pick up the ball and run, he’d smash through at least three or four people before he was tackled.

“Everyone looked up to him and the way he was playing meant that the others wanted to win for him.”

Whiteheads proved to have big impact on the youngster, who went on to play for Cardiff Met RFC and Newport RFC, before eventually breaking through at the Dragons, signing his first professional contract in March.

His experience trying to make it as a footballer has provided a valuable grounding.

“I’ve never liked to lose and football gives you that competitive edge,” explains Wainwright.

His teachers at Bassaleg High School had spotted the raw talent and succeeded in persuading the teenager to pursue rugby as a potential career path.

Justin Thomas, himself a ninetimes capped Wales international at full-back during the 1990s, is Bassaleg School head coach.

He says of Wainwright on the video: “I remember coming in during the first week of September and straight away he made an impression and showed a great attitude.

“Eventually we asked him if he fancied playing a game of rugby. He started to play with the seniors and started to enjoy it and soon showed he had the potential to be a top-class rugby player.

“I think his mental attitude towards training and learning and improving as a player is probably one of the best I’ve seen in the school. I think that’s why he’s made so much progress.”

To describe as meteoric the rise