Wales sweating over key forward's fitness ahead of All Blacks showdown
NEWS: Wales are sweating over the fitness of influential back-rower Aaron Wainwright ahead of Saturday’s Nations Championship clash against New Zealand.
The Leicester Tigers forward has been wearing a protective boot since Saturday’s 28-21 victory over Japan and did not train on Tuesday.
“He’s walking around in a boot at the minute, but that’s more precautionary,” Wales assistant coach Dan Lydiate said.
“The medical staff are assessing him and working as quickly as they can to turn him around.
“I don’t know if he’ll be available this week, but they’re doing everything in their power to make sure he is.”
The 29-year-old has earned 71 Test caps and become an important figure for Wales since Steve Tandy took charge in 2025.
Wainwright produced several of his trademark powerful carries in Wales’ autumn opener, continuing the form he has shown in the Gallagher Premiership since leaving the Dragons for Leicester this summer.
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Lydiate acknowledged that losing the experienced backrower would be a significant blow.
“I don’t know how many Test caps he’s got now, but he’s such a leader in terms of his ball-carrying ability,” he said.
“We’ve been lucky that Aaron has been quite robust over many years, given the position he plays.
“You want your best players on the field and a quality player like Aaron is a loss when he’s not available for us, but it gives someone else another chance.
“You never know – we might find the next Aaron Wainwright.”
Wales will need to raise their performance considerably after a difficult victory over Japan, with Tandy’s fourth win in 13 Tests coming after his side had to withstand late pressure to prevent the visitors from snatching a draw in Cardiff.
Saturday’s assignment is considerably tougher. The All Blacks have won their last 34 meetings with Wales, a run stretching back 73 years, and scored more than 50 points in each of their last three encounters.
Lydiate acknowledged the scale of the challenge awaiting his side.
“We’re under no illusions how tough it’s going to be,” he said.
“They’re a well-drilled team and might not give you many chances, but when they do, we’ve got to take them.
“The same goes when we’re defending. It’s all right trying to defend 15 or 20 phases once, but you don’t want to be doing it every set, because it takes so much out of you.
“We’re going to need a performance that we all aspire to, not necessarily a perfect performance.”
The former Wales flanker faced New Zealand twice during his 72-Test career, suffering defeats of 37-25 in 2010 and 34-15 in 2014. Both were considerably closer encounters in Cardiff than some of the more recent meetings.
Asked whether Wales genuinely believed they could end their long losing run against the All Blacks, Lydiate insisted his team would take the field with victory in mind.
“If you go onto the field with the mindset, ‘As long as we keep it under a certain score,’ you’ve already lost.
“You always have the mindset of going out to win, because if you don’t, you’re dead in the water.
“Don’t get me wrong, I played them twice and never beat them. We haven’t beaten them for however long, but there’s always going to be a first time.
“The boys who take the field on Saturday will be 100 per cent behind getting a result.
“You can’t be conservative. Seize the moment and hopefully take each chance that’s given to us.”
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