Go Compare

‘It is amazing how rugby can bring so many different people together’

Wales internationals Dewi Lake, Gwen Pyrs and Aaron Wainwright tell their stories about how they discovered rugby and spell out the important role the grassroots game had on their careers and lives

Go.Compare and Telegraph Media Group have worked together this season to shine a light on the incredible work that goes on at grassroots rugby clubs across Britain. Together they launched their Making a Difference campaign which asked clubs to nominate their own grassroots hero to be considered by an expert panel for a £5,000 prize that could go towards helping their club.We received over 800 nominations from clubs in Wales, England and Scotland and eventually settled on three very worthy winners: David Dixon at Wrexham Rugby Club, Amy Terava from Ashbourne RFC and Rob Prudom from Panmure Panthers. You can read their stories here.

Go.Compare was proud to support David Dixon and his Wrexham Rugby Club minis

The great thing about rugby is that it all starts at grassroots level and, as part of the Making a Difference campaign, we spoke with three Wales internationals – Dewi Lake, Gwenllian Pyrs and Aaron Wainwright to hear about their journeys into rugby and the debt they feel they have to the grassroots game.

You all have such different stories about how you found your way into rugby, don’t you?

Dewi Lake: I actually grew up with Tommy Reffell [fellow Wales player] and we did gymnastics together for many years in Bridgend! My mother got me into it. She was a coach at the local leisure centre. Dad used to work nights when I was young and she couldn’t leave me at home so I just started joining in. I started properly when I was around two and a half, doing roly-polys to start with. Then from about five onwards I was invited into an elite gymnastics training squad which was a bit more serious. That involved 20-40 hours training per week.It peaked when I was about 11 and I stopped at 13 when rugby took over. I went to a Home Nations championship with Wales and was doing pretty well but then I started to develop a bit more size. And of course, 12-13 is the age when rugby becomes more like the real game – you are allowed to tackle and lift at lineouts – and I was enjoying it much more.

Dewi Lake

Age: 25 Born: Bridgend, Wales Height: 6ft 1.5in (1.86m) Weight: 116 kg (18st 2lb) Position: Hooker Club: Ospreys Wales caps: 18 Wales points: 30

Gwenllian Pyrs

Age: 27 Born: Conwy, Wales Height: 5ft 7in (1.70m) Weight: 90 kg (14st 2lb) Position: Loosehead prop Club: Sale Sharks Wales caps: 42 Wales points: 10

Aaron Wainwright

Age: 27Born: Cardiff, WalesHeight: 6ft 2in (1.89m)Weight: 110 kg (17st 3lb)Position: Back row Club: Dragons Wales caps: 52 Wales points:15

Dewi Lake (right) and Tommy Reffell in their junior gymnastic days

Dewi on the bars

Dewi with his father David in his early playing days

Dewi and his former gymnastics buddy Tommy Reffell celebrate Wales beating South Africa in a Test match in 2022 | Credit: Shutterstock

Gwenllian Pyrs: My upbringing was on the family farm [in Ysbyty Ifan, a small village in the Conwy Valley of north-west Snowdonia]. I am one of ten kids, with five brothers and four sisters. My eldest brother is now 35 and my younger sister is 16. It was always quite competitive.I used to train sheepdogs, but it is hard to do that and play professional rugby these days. I still have one sheepdog called Dot. She’s nine now so getting on a bit. I do a bit with her. I ‘steal’ my dad’s sheepdog to do trialling when I’m home because I don’t have time to train them at the moment. It wouldn’t be fair on the dog. It’s a bit easier now I am at Sale Sharks so hopefully I’ll get more time with them as it’s not too far from home.Growing up on a farm helped me and my sister Alaw become the players we are today [Alaw has played Wales under-18s]. There are so many things on the farm to move, and you need to be physically fit, so that helped when I started playing rugby.

Gwen Pyrs at home in Conwy Valley with her sheepdogs

Gwen in action shearing a sheep

Gwen and her sister Alaw in training with Wales | Credit: Shutterstock

Aaron Wainwright: For me it was football to begin with. I started playing football when I was very young. I played for my local club in Rogerstone and then signed for Cardiff City’s academy when I was 10. I was there until I was 16 when I got released. It was cutthroat, there was a squad of 24 of us and only four or five got offered contracts.Football-wise Aaron Ramsey was my hero, he came through Cardiff’s academy, so he was a massive role model and as an Arsenal fan Patrick Vieira was my other hero and role model. There’s even a photo of me with him.

Aaron Wainwright (front row second from right) lines up with his Cardiff City Academy teammates

Proud dad Adrian Wainwright with his son, Aaron

Growing up on a farm helped me and my sister Alaw become the players we are today

Gwenllian Pyrs

DL: I started with Valley Ravens in Ogmore Vale at the age of five. It was a combined club with Nant-y-moel and I was playing for the under sevens. When I was around the age of nine, the team disbanded so I then moved to Bridgend Sports where I played through to youth rugby. My dad played for Treorchy in the 1990s. Rugby was in the family.

Where did you start rugby?

Aaron Wainwright celebrates leading Bassaleg to victory in the Urdd 7s in Newport

GP: My dad was one of the founders of Nant Conwy rugby club in 1980. He loved rugby. I played for them and all my siblings played there. I didn’t fancy going to play with boys, but then they decided to make a women’s team for the under-18s. I thought I’d give it a go and that is how it all started back in 2014.

Dewi Lake says rugby was always in the family | Credit: Shutterstock

AW: My first rugby club was Whiteheads RFC in Newport. I didn’t really turn to rugby until I was released by Cardiff City. I started going to the gym with mates, and that coincided with a big growing spurt I had. Eventually it was suggested I started playing rugby for my school, Bassaleg in Newport. There was rugby in the family though. My father Adrian played for Caerphilly and Wales under-21s – he was rugby through and through. We always talk about how gutted he must have been through my teenage years having to do all those journeys to watch me kick a round ball!

DL: It’s massive. Everyone in professional rugby started in grassroots rugby and are where they are now because of it. Everybody started at a club or local school. That level is really important, not only for budding future internationals but for the game itself.We also need to understand that’s where the next generation of international players are coming from. My first game at hooker at 18 years old was for my local club, Ogmore Vale, where I could learn my trade. The community game and club rugby are where I made my friends. There are friends I have now that I met when I was 11 years old at Bridgend Sports, and my friends at Ogmore Vale RFC have always stood by me. My dad coached the club, and I train with them – you form these friendships along the way.

How important is the grassroots game for Wales?

Community rugby is the heart and soul of Wales and Go.Compare is proud to support it | Credit: Gareth Iwan Jones

Community rugby is the heart and soul of rugby in Wales

Aaron Wainwright

GP: Absolutely. Grassroots is where everyone starts. It is so important for the success and health of the game. That eventually feeds into the national team. If the grassroots game is thriving that gives better opportunities for national teams to thrive as well.When I started at Nant Conwy we only had two teams. Now we have several. We have my sister Alaw, Nel Metcalfe and me – it’s amazing to have three internationals coming from our small club in north Wales.

AW: Community rugby is the heart and soul of rugby in Wales. Any time you go down to the club there will always be people watching rugby or talking about the next international match – everyone from the minis to the juniors, up to the youth and senior teams. That’s what they are excited about at the weekend – playing rugby and watching the internationals. And that’s vital for Wales: the more people who buy into that culture, the more will turn up to our big games on Saturday.

DL: Off the field, it gives you discipline in life: learning a routine, sticking to a plan and a programme. I have been in and around elite sport for 20 years now and learning discipline, training my body and eating well has all been a part of that. It’s everything that comes with being a professional sportsperson.

How has rugby shaped you and turned you into the person you are?

Aaron Wainwright in training with Wales last year

AW: Rugby has definitely done a lot for me as a person. Although football is a team sport, I felt it was all about the individual and everybody was out for themselves. But when I turned to rugby, I felt a warm welcoming environment and immediately it felt like I had been there for years. That drew me in and added to the teamwork values that are massive for me today.

Who have been your mentors in the game?

DL: My dad David Lake would be the biggest influence – he was my coach at Bridgend Sports. My main coach through all of rugby was someone called Owain Tudur, who did a lot in my school years, and then Liam Scott when I was playing for the district. He put a lot of work in to get some Ospreys people down to look at me, which gave me the final boost to get into regional rugby.GP: Many people have helped in my rugby journey so I wouldn’t want to miss anyone out, but my dad was a massive influence. I wouldn’t be where I am now were it not for him, because of the travelling and all the places he took me. But there are many unsung heroes in rugby clubs who help you along the way. Without the help of Cenin Thomas, one of the under-18s coaches at Nant Conwy, I wouldn’t be where I am now on the international stage. She told me to go to Scarlets for under-18 trials and when I turned 18, I was able to play for the senior Scarlets side.AW: There were a few people early on in my life who had a big impact but one stands out: Gwesyn Price-Jones, a rugby hub officer at Bassaleg School. He transformed one of the old changing rooms in our hall into a bit of gym so we could do sessions at lunchtime, sessions he supervised and led. He had a massive impact on the conditioning side of things and he created a fun environment. They were great memories: seven or eight of us working away in that freezing cold gym giving it everything. You remember things like that.

DL: My first cap [v Ireland, 2022] is the obvious answer but I would also look back at the under-20s when we beat New Zealand at the Junior World Cup. Being able to say we had beaten New Zealand was a massive moment in my career.GP: There have been many along the way but definitely my first cap against Italy in 2017 was a very proud moment. Singing the anthem is another. I was trying to live in the moment, but was also thinking about home. Every time I sing it that feeling never changes. It’s such a privilege to run out for your country.AW: Yes, it has to be the first cap. I was picked on the bench against South Africa when we played them in Washington DC en route to Argentina on the 2018 tour. My dad Adrian flew over but I didn’t get on. Then we travelled down to Argentina, and I was picked on the bench again. Dad, having flown back to Wales, flew back over the Atlantic again via Brazil and then made two connecting flights to San Juan just to watch me get off the bench for half an hour for my debut. Having done that he then set out on the return journey back to Wales that night. He was in Argentina for less than 24 hours and crossed the Atlantic four times in eight days! It sums up what rugby and Wales means to him, and him valuing what I achieved made me very proud.

What has been your favourite moment as a player?

Aaron Wainwright in action on his debut against Argentina | Credit: Shutterstock

Post-match picture with teammates | Credit: Shutterstock

Gwen Pyrs's teammates celebrate victory over Italy in 2017 | Credit: Shutterstock

Gwen Pyrs and colleagues belt out the anthem during last year's Guinness Six Nations | Credit: Shutterstock

DL: It’s about family for me. My family got me into the game, my family supports me through the good times and the tough times, and then there is the family you create through the game. There are people I have met, who my parents and sister have met, who have become very close to us. You do it for them.GP: Rugby has meant so much to me from a very young age. It has shaped who I am now. It is such an inclusive and accessible sport, There’s a position for everyone: all shapes and sizes and every skill. For people wanting to get involved in sport, there’s nothing better than rugby.

What does rugby mean to you?

There is the family you create through the game

Aaron Wainwright

AW: It really is like a family. Everyone is friendly off the pitch and a community club will welcome people in. That’s why you see so many people who have been at their club for so long. Every Saturday after a home game for the Dragons I will shower, get changed and go back down the club to see some people and have a chat because that’s what I enjoy doing. I value what they say and I feel at home there.

DL: Just having the opportunity to be seen by Ospreys selectors gave me a massive kick-start. I could easily have been missed and spent my career playing community rugby. That was down to those coaches writing to the Ospreys to tell them they needed to have a look at me. It’s about getting the big break. You need that bit of luck.The switch to hooker was also important. Until I was 18, I was a flanker. When the Ospreys did watch me and wanted me to join they said they wanted me as a hooker, not a back-rower. That was a pretty big moment – now I can’t think of myself as anything other than a hooker. It was very tough learning a new position and I’m still learning, to be honest. Learning to throw in was the weirdest thing!

What has been the moment that made a difference to you?

Dewi Lake with his mum, Louvain, after a match against Barbarians in 2024 | Credit: Getty

Gwen Pyrs enjoys a victory over Spain with Kate Williams

GP: So many things have made a difference but building friendships is the main one. Rugby has given me so many opportunities I’d never have experienced. I’ve been to so many different countries and made so many friends, friends you wouldn’t have but for rugby. There are so many different characters in rugby – it is amazing how one sport can bring so many different people together. I like New Zealand and South Africa is an amazing country. I went there recently and would love to go back.AW: I’ve got two moments that made a difference. Firstly, playing for Bassaleg School in a sevens tournament against all the top schools and rugby colleges in Wales which we won. Nobody expected us to win – not even us, if we are being honest!My second would be playing seniors for Whitehead when we got to the final of the Newport Cup. That was my first time playing at Rodney Parade and even though we lost I enjoyed a good game and enjoyed that feeling. It was a special moment being able to share the experience of being at Rodney Parade with friends from school and people in the community.

Making a difference

Go.Compare – a proud sponsor of the Welsh Rugby Union – partnered with the Telegraph Media Group to launch its Making a Difference campaign, rewarding individuals who have made a major contribution to grassroots rugby. Read about the Wales winner, David Dixon, and watch the moment Nigel Owens presented him with his prize. Go.Compare is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Register number 465053.

Advertiser content for