‘Banged up’ Wainwright set to face Italy for Wales

Number eight Aaron Wainwright is “banged up” but set to feature in Wales’ Six Nations finale against Italy on Saturday.

The Dragons forward has started all four games of the championship, three times in his preferred position of number eight and at blind-side flanker versus France.

The 28-year-old overcame a blow to his hip to start against Ireland but was replaced by Olly Cracknell early in the second half.

“Aaron is a warrior, so he keeps going for us. He is banged up, but he will be good to go,” said assistant coach Dan Lydiate. “Everyone is raring to go.”

Wainwright is Wales’ joint leading carrier with hooker Dewi Lake (54) and he is fourth in the tournament rankings for both dominant contacts (11) and post-contact metres (72).

The Leicester-bound forward’s presence would be a boost for the meeting with a physical Italy side who are hunting three wins in the championship for the first time after beating Scotland in round one and England last weekend.

Fly-half Sam Costelow is still not training fully after the ankle injury suffered against Scotland in round three, but has not been ruled out.

Wales suffered a 27-17 defeat against Ireland despite a tenacious performance in which they made 240 tackles.

According to Opta, Dafydd Jenkins (82) and Alex Mann (75) top the Six Nations tackle chart.

Lydiate was 2012 player of the Six Nations for his chop-tackling defensive efforts when Wales won a Grand Slam by conceding just three tries and 58 points.

“We’d like to have the ball a bit more and be scoring points, but the boys put their bodies on the line for the jersey and you can’t ask for much more than that,” said the former Lions blind-side flanker.

“It’s a collision sport and there is no shying away from that. The boys are putting in some big shifts and there is a lot of unseen work that is creating a good vibe and feeling.

Wales have last 15 successive games in the Six Nations since their 2023 success against Italy.

After starting with heavy defeats to England and France, Lydiate is encouraged by the performances against Scotland and Ireland

“If we keep on the right trajectory then we will get to a place where the wins will look after themselves.

“We are miles apart from where we were at the start of the tournament but we can’t think that we have a couple of performances and the result will look after itself.