WALES boss Warren Gatland wants Aaron Wainwright to show he is a starter not just a finisher after keeping faith with the Dragons flanker for Sunday’s crunch World Cup clash with Australia.

The 22-year-old from Bassaleg continues in the starting line-up for the Tokyo encounter with the Wallabies that should decide the winners of Pool D, who are likely to then avoid being in England and New Zealand’s half of the knockout stages.

Wainwright is picked ahead of Dragons teammate Ross Moriarty and joins forces with openside Justin Tipuric and number eight Josh Navidi.

In the Six Nations the blindside, who won the first of his 13 caps against Argentina in June 2018, had to be content with adding oomph from the bench but earned a start against Georgia thanks to strong summer performances.

The Wallabies, however, is a giant step up with Wainwright up against a formidable trio of David Pocock, Michael Hooper and Isi Naisarani.

South Wales Argus:

“It is big test for us and him,” said Gatland. “He just turned 22 the other day and he has a massive amount of potential.

“We did have that discussion (of making a change) because he has been very effective coming off the bench for us when the games breaks up a bit and giving us an impact.

“We just felt he deserved that opportunity after that first game and hopefully we are looking for him to be a bit more vocal.

“We want him to get his hands on the ball because I don’t think people realise how explosive and powerful he is.

“He is going to be some player in a few years so we just have to give him that confidence and self-belief that he is able to perform at this level.

“Considering only 12 months ago he had his first international he has made a huge amount of progress but we still see a lot of growth in him as well.

“He is exceptional taking on knowledge and information knowing his lineout roles, he is really good defensively so he deserves that opportunity to keep playing.”

Moriarty is joined on the bench by Dragons teammate and hooker Elliot Dee.