Mason Grady had played with George North and Dan Biggar years before the youngster made his Wales debut against England. It was more than a decade ago when North and Biggar were youngsters in Warren Gatland’s first spell as head coach and Grady was an eight-year-old moving his heroes around on his X-Box. Now, he is preparing in a squad with both players, to try and prevent a Six Nations wooden spoon by beating Italy in Rome on Saturday.

Russell Martin insists he has been “energised” by another troubled Swansea City defeat that ended with a red card for the head coach. Despite being sent off following a stoppage time bust up with Luton Town – and a fifth defeat in seven games – Martin believes there are signs of fight that can stop the Swans’ freefall. A 1-0 loss to the Hatters leaves Swansea in 17th place – 11 points above the relegation zone with 11 matches of an imploding season remaining.

Sabri Lamouchi has promised there are good times ahead for Cardiff City after guiding the club six points clear of the relegation zone. The Bluebirds manager has overseen three victories in four games to dramatically alter the picture for a club which had previously not won since the start of November. A 2-0 win at home to Bristol City has pushed Cardiff six points clear of Blackpool and just five behind fading Swansea City, who they will face in a derby clash on April 1.

Melissa Courtney-Bryant believes a medal at the European Indoor Athletics Championships is reward for the resilience she has shown since suffering Olympics heartbreak. The Wales Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in 2018, took bronze again in Istanbul on Friday night in the 3,000m to add to her bronze at the same championships in Glasgow four years ago. But in between times, Courtney-Bryant has had to battle back from a foot injury that wrecked her dream of competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo two years ago.

Ben Carter has revealed the Dragons failed to give Gerwyn Price a run for his money – but they still aim to check out on a high in front of their own fans on Saturday night. Carter and his Dragons teammates put up their own champion – youngster Joe Westwood – to face Price when the former darts world champion visited Rodney Parade earlier this week. The inevitable mis-match ended with a predictable away win for one-time Cross Keys hooker Price, but the Dragons will arrow in on a successful home victory in their final game at Rodney Parade this season, a clash with Connacht that is live on S4C.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has doubled the number of the players who have earned full-time contracts with the Wales Women’s senior team in 2023. The WRU had 12 players named on full-time contracts in 2022 and a further 17 on six-month deals for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, making them the first female players to represent Wales professionally. The investment means Ioan Cunningham, Wales Women’s Senior Head Coach, will now have 25 players on full-time contracts as he prepares his side for the forthcoming Women’s Six Nations Championship.

Melissa Courtney-Bryant made sure she stayed out of trouble and expended as little energy as possible to reach the 3,000m final at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul. Running in a slow second heat in Turkey on Thursday night, Courtney-Bryant had to keep her wits about her to stay out of trouble and eventually finish fourth to secure a place in Friday evening’s final. With a short turnaround between heats and final, the 2018 Welsh Commonwealth Games 1500m bronze medallist said afterwards: “I just wanted to do as little as possible today, we’ve only got 23 hours before the final.

Welsh rugby officials have acknowledged that top players will need to find opportunities abroad if the national game is to survive amidst a climate of financial turmoil. Although Warren Gatland’s Wales team have lost all three of their Six Nations matches, off-field issues have been even more concerning. Out-of-contract Welsh players are currently unable to sign new deals, and even if they could, the proposals on the table are unimpressive considering the severe budget cuts that the country’s four regions are set to face next season.

There will be no need for introductions when Bala Town meet Connah’s Quay Nomads in the first JD Welsh Cup semi-final on Friday night. The Cup clash – staged at Flint Town United’s Essity Stadium – will be the fifth time the clubs have met this season and the third time they have eye-balled each other in the last six weeks. Anyone looking for a form guide will have to sift through the fine detail, though, as the four meetings so far leave nothing between them. They have one victory apiece, with two of the previous encounters ending in draws.

Sabri Lamouchi reckons Cardiff City need 15 more points before his players can hit the beach rather than land in League One. The Bluebirds manager has told his squad they can relax and enjoy themselves if they gather another five victories, which he feels will be enough to stave off the threat of relegation. But five victories from 12 remaining games – starting with Saturday’s home 12.30pm clash against Bristol City – is a tall order when you’re a side that took 21 matches to win your last five.

Wales defender Connor Roberts ensured Vincent Kompany is looking forward to an emotional return to Manchester City after Roberts’ goal put Championship leaders Burnley into the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time in 20 years. A few minutes after former Swansea City star Roberts had snatched a 1-0 win over Fleetwood at Turf Moor, the quarter-final draw handed Burnley a match-up against Kompany’s old boss Pep Guardiola and a club he captained to four Premier League titles and two FA Cups.

Welsh teenager Grace Williams, who won Para table tennis gold with Fliss Pickard in the women’s class 14 doubles at the World Championships in Spain last November, starts her bid for Paralympic qualification next week in the Costa Brava Spanish Para Open taking place in Platja d’Aro from March 9-11. The 19-year-old student from Llanfyllin is currently World number 17 in women’s class 8 and is looking to improve that ranking over the next 12 months during the qualification period for the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.

Welsh paratriathlete Darren Williams continues to fly the Welsh flag with pride after his life changed dramatically when the birth of his first child was followed three weeks later by another life-changing incident. The 35-year-old, from Cardigan, was travelling on the back of a motorbike in April 2014 when he was involved in a road traffic collision near Gwbert. Williams spent the next 11 months in hospital, recovering from the accident which saw him airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. Let’s start with a little confession. I’m still slightly punch drunk from that big football hit the week before (the one with lots of zeroes on the end), so this week was all about recovery.

Former Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers took the blame after Leicester City crashed out of the FA Cup. Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics capitalised on awful defending to earn Blackburn Rovers a 2-1 win as they reached a first FA Cup quarter-final for eight years. Kelechi Iheanacho grabbed a second-half consolation but the error-prone Foxes got what they deserved against the Championship side.

Former England international Shaunagh Brown has hailed the possibility of a British and Irish Lions women’s tour joining a sport where the potential is “limitless”. Brown believes that findings of a Lions feasibility study have provided “a massive green light” for women’s rugby to keep growing on the world stage. A 13-strong steering group, chaired by former Lions and Wales wing Ieuan Evans, included the likes of Brown, Rugby Football Union chief operating and financial officer Sue Day, Irish Rugby Union performance director David Nucifora, plus World Rugby’s high performance manager Nicky Ponsford.

Wrexham moved top of the National League and extended their unbeaten league run to 22 matches with a 2-1 home win against Chesterfield. Elliot Lee’s spectacular opener and Sam Dalby’s neat finish put the Red Dragons in control at half-time and despite Ryan Colclough’s stoppage-time effort, Phil Parkinson’s side secured a fourth straight win. Former Luton midfielder Lee crashed home a stunning effort into the top corner after stepping on to Paul Mullin’s knockdown in the fourth minute.

Ruby Evans got her senior career off to a sensational start as she bagged two medals for Great Britain at the FIG Artistic World Cup series event in Cottbus, Germany, over the weekend. The 15-year-old women’s artistic gymnast from Cardiff, who attends Ysgol Plasmawr, took silver on vault and bronze on the floor to cap a remarkable first competition as a senior gymnast. Evans’ average of 13.183 on vault secured silver behind Italian Manila Esposito (13.233).

Three games into the Six Nations and three defeats for Warren Gatland in his second spell as Wales coach. Is this really the same man who left on such a high and with such credit in the bank three years ago? Daniel Parker says the figure in the big red WRU coat looks strangely unfamiliar. How do Wales fans begin to process that absolutely dismal defeat to the Old Enemy? While there have been more depressing final scores in the history of the fixture – those of us old enough to remember the dark days of the 1990s and early 2000s can unhappily attest to that – there can hardly have been a more abject performance from the men in red.

Wales international Willis Halaholo is one of a dozen Cardiff players facing massive wage cuts of almost 80 per cent if they decide to stay around next season. Some players have reportedly been offered just £30,000 to re-sign, highlighting the financial pressure facing rugby players in Wales, despite the recent strike being avoided before last Saturday’s game against England. Although Cardiff have not yet made formal offers to players whose contracts are up, those players have been informed of the potential salaries on offer, forcing them to make crucial decisions about their careers.