Jac Morgan passed his audition as Wales captain as his team responded with a hugely encouraging dress rehearsal for the World Cup. Head coach Warren Gatland has claimed he will use two different captains in the remaining warm-up games before the tournament, but Morgan has set a benchmark in the 20-9 victory over England that will be difficult to ignore.

It’s a well known fact that rugby players are getting bigger, but when centres can look their fathers in the eye – including those who played internationally in the second row – then you know the game is heading towards the clouds. Gareth Llewellyn was 6ft 6in when he stood tall in the Wales line-out throughout the Nineties.

Like the fresh paint on the touchline dug-outs, you can almost smell the optimism at football clubs at this time of year. Last season’s problems have been forgotten – almost – new faces have arrived, and most players have that two-weeks-in-Ibiza healthy summer glow.

Mark Kelly put in a hero’s performance of the Tour of Epynt, winning the sixth round of the 2023 J D Tyres Welsh Tarmacadam Championship in his Škoda Fabia R5.Co-driven by Dafydd Evans for the first time, Kelly and his rivals faced seven special stages over the daunting military range above Sennybridge, with the first four stages held in the dry before the heavens opened and the remaining three long tests were run in extremely wet conditions.

Wales coach Emily Handyside has urged her team to back-up their victory over Trinidad and Tobago and claim a ninth-place finish at the Netball World Cup. The Welsh Feathers earned their second victory of the tournament with a convincing 70-55 win that sets up a final game shoot-out against Scotland on Saturday to decide ninth and 10th places.

Warren Gatland has compared his new Wales captain Jac Morgan to former skipper Sam Warburton, ahead of the World Cup warm-up clash against England. Gatland has turned to 23-year-old Morgan as the man to wear the armband at the Principality Stadium on Saturday and a positive leadership performance is likely to make him firm favourite to gain the job for the tournament in France.

Swansea City head coach Michael Duff has revealed he gained a glowing report from England defender Kieran Trippier before moving for Newcastle United’s Harrison Ashby. Ashby will finalise a loan move on Friday and the Magpies’ wing-back is in line to make his debut for the Swans in their opening Championship match of the season at home to Birmingham City on Saturday.

Emma Finucane narrowly missed out on a gold medal but took silver at her first world championships in Glasgow. The rising Welsh star was part of a Great Britain team that recorded a best major women’s team sprint result in 12 years with silver at the UCI Cycling World Championships.

Like Wales’ Gareth Anscombe, Danny Care has unfinished business with the World Cup but refuses to hold back during England’s warm-up games even if it means repeating one of his career’s most crushing disappointments. Japan-bound half-back Anscombe was injured in a warm-up match against England at Twickenham four years ago and missed the 2019 tournament.

Tony Pennock insists Haverfordwest County have given themselves an excellent chance of progress in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night. Despite the manager feeling all kinds of dirty tricks were played on his Cymru Premier outfit in the first leg of their second qualifying round tie in the Faroe Islands, Pennock believes a 2-1 deficit against B36 Torshavn can be turned around at the Cardiff City Stadium (7.45pm).

Mike Phillips played at two World Cup tournaments and believes the key to success is self-belief – not a quality in which he was ever really found wanting. But the former Wales scrum-half – who seemed to swagger his way through big matches – believes Warren Gatland can still build some of that conviction, even though many people have already dismissed their chances of success in France next month.

Wales captain Nia Jones has admitted their Netball World Cup campaign has followed predictions with the Welsh Feathers failing to make the top eight. Jones’ team battled hard but were eventually worn down by Uganda in a 73-56 defeat in their sixth game at the tournament in South Africa.

The inaugural Wales Rugby League Wheelchair Invitational League kicks off this Sunday with a mouth-watering couple of fixtures at the Cardiff City House of Sport, starting at noon.

Leigh Halfpenny will finally win his 100th cap for Wales against England on Saturday in a team captained by Jac Morgan. Three players are at the other end of the spectrum and will make their international debuts – Keiron Assiratti (tighthead prop), Corey Domachowski (loosehead prop) and Max Llewellyn (centre).

Seasoned Newport County fans are no strangers to tumult: much of the club’s 111-year history has been defined by it. By contrast, the last few years have been a relative sea of tranquillity, with County looking a comfortable resident in the Football League – something which the late David Hando and other dedicated supporters could only have dreamt of following the demise of the old Ironsides, and the reborn club’s painful years in exile and the non-league doldrums.

Welsh artistic gymnasts Ellie Lewis, Jemima Taylor and Alex Niscoveanu all returned home from Slovenia with medals in their luggage after representing Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Maribor. Niscoveanu, 17, who hails from Penarth and trains at South Essex, won Team gold alongside Jonas Rushworth (Leeds) and Sol Scott (Huntingdon) in the Boys Team Final, as well as individual all-around bronze.

Welsh Fire recruit David Willey says his goal is to play at the 50-over World Cup even though he is “completely at peace” with being overlooked by England. Willey missed out on World Cup selection in 2019 when Barbadian-born fast bowler Jofra Archer, having qualified on residency just before the tournament, was preferred and England went on to win the trophy for the first time.

New Swansea City signing Carl Rushworth insists he was ready for the step up to the Championship after he joined the club, alongside striker Mykola Kukharevych. Brighton goalkeeper Rushworth has moved on a season-long loan, following his loan spell at League One side Lincoln City last season, where he played 46 games.

Louis Rees-Zammit insists he has only shown a fraction of his talent in his short career to date as he targets a World Cup debut. The Wales and Gloucester winger has scored nine tries in 25 Test matches and earned British and Irish Lions selection since making his debut as a teenager in late 2020 but, still only 22, he wants to take his game to another level.

Wales will go in search of a second victory at the Netball World Cup when they face Uganda on Wednesday – after captain Nia Jones admitted New Zealand had brought them back to earth with a bump. A day after the Welsh Feathers had earned their first win in South Africa – against Sri Lanka – the current world champions, the Silver Ferns, reminded Wales of the high standards at the top of the global game.