It took Gwennan Hopkins a mere five minutes to make her mark in international rugby. Not many teenagers score on their Test debut, but that’s exactly what the 19-year-old Hopkins did in Cork last weekend as she provided Wales with their only points in a 36-5 defeat.

Jamie Jones has qualified for the World Snooker Championship after ending a 20-year attendance at the tournament for former world champion Neil Robertson. Weshman Jones stormed to a in the final round of World Championship qualifying, meaning Robertson will miss out on the Crucible for the first time in two decades.

Not for the first time since he purchased Cardiff City, owner Vicent Tan has a big call to make. Does he bite the Bulut . . . or fire it? Manager Erol Bulut is out of contract at the end of the season – his sole campaign in charge – and discussions over a new deal have not really gone beyond ordering the coffees.

Stevie Williams bagged the biggest victory of his career when he became the first Brit to win the La Flèche Wallonne classic race.

The former chief executive of Ryder Cup Wales is to become the next Chair of Wales Golf.

Wales’ most capped hooker, Ken Owens, has confirmed his retirement from rugby. The 37-year-old Scarlets forward – who has not played for almost a year because of a back injury – says he was advised to stop playing.

The decision by World Athletics to award prize money at the Paris 2024 Games goes against the Olympic spirit and solidarity among international federations, the head of cycling’s global governing body (UCI) has claimed. Athletics became the first sport to offer prize money to Olympic champions when WA President Sebastian Coe announced last week that gold medallists in Paris will each earn £40,000.

Wales’ world champion swimmer Matt Richards – one of five Team Wales stars selected for Great Britain at this summer’s Olympic Games – believes financial rewards for Olympic gold medals are the only way to shut down the controversial Enhanced Games. Australian freestyle swimmer James Magnussen has become one of the first athletes to sign up for the Enhanced Games. Magnussen will intentionally dope in an attempt to win $1 million by breaking a world record at the event.

Taulupe Faletau is poised to return from injury for Cardiff this weekend – providing a huge boost to Wales’ hopes of picking themselves up off the floor this summer. The peerless Lions No.8 has not played since breaking his arm at the World Cup six months ago.

World champion Matt Richards will head five Welsh swimmers who have been selected for Great Britain at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Richards, Medi Harris, Daniel Jervis and Kieran Bird will fly the flag for Wales as part of Team GB during the Olympic pool programme, while Hector Pardoe – who earned a bronze medal at February’s World Championships – will race in the 10km open water marathon event. The five-star showing is only one swimmer fewer than the super six Welsh swimmers who went to the delayed Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

Elfyn Evans is looking to grab the lead in the World Rally Championship title battle in Croatia this week.

Welsh regions hoping to assemble squads to become competitive with the best in the United Rugby Championship have been given a sobering reminder of the size of that task after Leinster announced the capture of All Blacks star, Jordie Barrett.

Josh Turnbull insists he sees exciting times ahead in Welsh rugby as he begins his new career as a coach. The 36-year-old Cardiff back rower has confirmed he has played his last match and will take up a coaching position within the Cardiff academy set-up.

James Harris admitted Glamorgan were disappointed they were unable to press home a promising position against Derbyshire and had to settle for a draw in their first home County Championship game of the season. The match finished with spoils shared after a superb stand between Luis Reece and Brooke Guest guided the visitors to safety.

Phil Pratt will be at the Paralympics in Paris later this year, but it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine the highlight of his summer could have been playing at Wimbledon. Pratt is the man who captained Great Britain’s wheelchair basketball team to World Championship glory in 2018.

Gerwyn Price believes he let a fifth International Darts Open title slip from his grasp after losing the final of the European tour event. German home favourite Martin Schindler denied Price as he surged to victory in his first European Tour final. The 27-year-old German powered his way to an 8-5 win over the two-time defending champion at the WT Energiesysteme Arena in Riesa to claim his first senior PDC crown.

Erol Bulut has issued an impassioned defence of his record as Cardiff City manager as he seeks to stay in charge this summer. The Bluebirds boss has taken issue with his critics, who he claims have tried to suggest he should take little credit for the club’s improvement on last season.

Century-maker Chris Cooke believes he has set the platform for Glamorgan to achieve a memorable victory over Derbyshire. Cooke helped Glamorgan pull in front on day three of their Vitality County Championship match against after they posted 361 for seven declared to set a target of 401 for the visitors.

Newport County manager Graham Coughlan has given a scathing assessment of his team – and questioned his own future – after they suffered a sixth successive defeat. The County boss said the club’s fans deserved better after their latest setback – a 2-1 loss at home against Tranmere Rovers. That makes it a miserable round half dozen of losses on the bounce for Newport, who only a month ago looked to have a decent outside chance of making the play-offs before their rotten run.

Ioan Cunningham expects scrutiny over his position as head coach after Wales glued themselves to the bottom of the Women’s Six Nations table. Like his counterpart in charge of the men’s team – Warren Gatland – Cunningham is a man under pressure who cannot ease things until he stops losing. The former Scarlets coach, who brought a sharp upturn in the fortunes of the national side in the women’s game two years ago, admits results have put him in the firing line.