Aaron Wainwright: What win 'shows' despite Wales' Wooden Spoon

Aaron Wainwright admits that another Wooden Spoon isn’t ideal for Welsh rugby, but was delighted that they have finally ended their three-year, 15-game 1099-day losing streak in the Six Nations Championship with a 31-17 win over Italy.

Wainwright was outstanding with a barnstorming performance, scoring two tries as Wales claimed their first win in the Championship since beating Italy in Rome 29-17 in March 2023.

While it was their first success in 1,491 days since they saw off Scotland in February 2022, and Wainwright told the BBC that the victory shows the special character of the squad beaten 48-7 by England in their opening game.

“I think the last two games we’ve played really well, but just haven’t quite got across the line, and I think the way we started today and the way we hung in there towards the end.

“I think it shows the character of this group and how much we’ve grown so much so far in this competition. When you look at our first 20 minutes or our first halves against Scotland and Ireland, I think we played really well and put some really good stuff together.

“And I think the amount of pressure we built in that first half reflected in the scoreboard, probably finished the game pretty poorly, so a bit disappointed with how the game ended, but a win’s a win.

“For a lot of young guys in the squad, and this will be a great experience for them. Hopefully, lots of lessons learnt over the course of the tournament, and it’s just about growing now and heading into the future.

“If you look at the England and the France games, the first 20 minutes of that game really let us down, yellow cards and penalties, but since then our discipline has been on point, we’ve been more accurate with the ball in hand.

“In the first half today, especially, everything fell into place. It’s been a long campaign, and we’ve improved a lot. Obviously, It not ideal to finish bottom of the table, but the growth there,” he said.