A poignant farewell will take place at Rodney Parade on Saturday evening, as Aaron Wainwright makes his final home appearance for Dragons RFC before departing for Gallagher Prem side Leicester Tigers next season.
Wainwright, who for almost a decade has been playing his professional career for the Newport-based side, where he started off against Cardiff as a promising academy product and has turned into a seasoned and heavily relied upon player.
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He’s a genuine modern-day stalwart. A well-respected figurehead, among a resurgent Dragons side, who so agonisingly missed out on a place in the EPCR Challenge Cup Final following an 18-12 defeat against Montpellier.
However, through his tenure at the club, those appearances in knockout rugby proved elusive, but despite disappointing campaign after disappointing campaign, the 28-year-old continued to shine.
Undoubtedly, that leads him into the position he finds himself in on his penultimate Dragons game. Work rate, passion, pride, and resilience are some of the words supporters describe the back-row forward.
On playing his last home game as a Dragons player, Wainwright said: “There’s nothing quite like Rodney Parade and seeing the terrace and the stands full of fans.
“I don’t normally get too emotional. I suppose we will have to wait and see, but I’ve been here my whole career.
“I’ve got to concentrate on going out there and giving the fans something to shout and cheer about.
“The thing that I will remember the most is just being able to connect and cheer with the fans after the games.
“Especially the guys on the terrace, they have stuck with us for as long as possible, and they have been awesome.”
After facing off against Edinburgh on Saturday evening, and then following a trip to West Wales, up next is a fresh challenge across the border.
When it was announced that the ‘outstanding’ back row was heading to Leicester, a club statement read: “We are obviously disappointed to be losing a player of the quality of Aaron at the end of this campaign, and we tried everything to retain his services with financial terms that surpassed all others to remain with us.
“However, we must respect his decision to want to experience a fresh challenge outside of Wales and know how hard this choice has been for him to make.”
With all that said, he will join a strong Welsh contingent at the Welford Road Stadium side, including Wales teammates Olly Cracknell, Tommy Reffell and Gabriel Hamer-Webb. On the excitement of playing in the Prem, he added: “The standard of the Prem is really exciting, and Leicester is a massive club with so much history.
“It’s really exciting to challenge myself and hopefully add to what they’ve got there already, and hopefully it will take my game to a new level as well.”
Head coach Filo Tiatia has stated that his side needs to channel the emotions of the fixture against 12th-place Edinburgh to finish the United Rugby Championship season strong. Also, as Wainwright bids farewell at Rodney Parade, so will a number of other players.
“We’re looking forward to the game. There is lots to celebrate, both our people and those players that are leaving,” added Tiatia.
“The emotion is the emotion. What we need to do is celebrate that emotion with a performance. We want to finish strong. It’s our last home game, and important to us how we front up.
“The fans are important to us too, the community we play in, so we need to put in a performance and really celebrate with a scrap at home.”
With it being his side’s last home game of the season, and a six-day turnaround since their Challenge Cup exit, Tiatia added: “We have taken lessons, and now it is about how we shift forward.
“We reviewed the game over the weekend, and we know there were a lot of opportunities we created to win the game. There are a lot of lessons around taking opportunities. There are fine margins in these games, and it’s a lesson to learn.
“The boys are excited but also pretty banged up after the semi-final. It is a short turnaround, but we have got into our work this week, and we are ready.
“People remember the finish.
“When you listen to someone, sometimes you miss the start of a conversation, sometimes you miss the middle, but you remember the end. That is no different in terms of our season.”
Dragons RFC Team News vs Edinburgh Rugby: Angus O’Brien (cc), Jared Rosser, Fine Inisi, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer, Tinus de Beer, Rhodri Williams; Rodrigo Martinez, Brodie Coghlan, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Ben Carter (cc), Harrison Keddie, Thomas Young, Aaron Wainwright
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhodri Jones, Chris Coleman, Matthew Screech, Ryan Woodman, Niall Armstrong, Harri Ackerman, Huw Anderson
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