Russell Martin saluted his Swansea City’s players’ courage and determination after they came from 2-0 down to beat Reading 3-2 to stay among the Championship pace-setters on Tuesday night. The Swans head coach was full of praise for his side who buried themselves in a deep hole, but managed to haul themselves out of it. It was a display of impressive character from a team that had lost 4-0 at Burnley just three days before.

Wales are looking for a new captain after an injured Dan Biggar was left out of the squad on Tuesday for the autumn rugby Tests. Biggar is in a knee brace after limping off during a game for his Northampton club on October 9. The club said he will be out for weeks. The fly-half was handed the captaincy this year for the Six Nations when Alun Wyn Jones remained injured, and Biggar continued on the July tour of South Africa.

Matthew Hirst has won the 2022 Motorsport UK Pirelli Ravenol Welsh Rally Championship title with a perfect 150 points score after winning the penultimate round of the series, the Wyedean Stages Rally. It’s the second time that Hirst and co-driver Declan Dear have been Welsh champions, having won the title in 2019. Driving his Pirelli-shod Delta Salvage Ford Fiesta R5+, Hirst scored maximum points on the opening four rounds of the series – the WKD Trained Dogs Rally North Wales in March, April’s Rallynuts Stages Rally, the Plains Rally in mid-May and the Nicky Grist Stages at the start of July – leaving him only needing one more good result to secure the title.

Swansea City assistant coach Matt Gill insists no lasting damage has been done by the club’s 4-0 thrashing away to Burnley. The Swans return to action on Tuesday night at home to Reading, just three days after suffering their heaviest defeat of the season, a loss which has also cost them Joel Piroe for the next three matches. Piroe – the club’s leading scorer so far this season and last – will be missing after the club decided not to appeal his red card.

Merthyr Town’s reward for their 2-1 home win over Folkestone Invicta in the final FA Cup qualifying round last weekend is a trip to Buxton in the first-round proper next month. The Martyrs, ball No. 79 in the hat for the draw made at Alvechurch FC, were drawn to face the National League North side on the weekend of 5 November and will be gunning for another famous victory. You have to go back to 2005, when they lost 2-1 to Walsall, for the last time Merthyr had reached the first round.

By Matthew Burgess As has been the theme for much of the season thus far, the Cardiff Devils both thrilled and frustrated in equal measure this past weekend. There is no better experience in the world of Devils hockey than when the Sheffield Steelers roll into town on a Saturday night at a packed out […]

The 25th anniversary of the Cardiff Cross Challenge had everything. From world class Kenyans, to eager primary school pupils, and masters athletes determined to earn league points for their clubs, they came in their hundreds to tackle the Llandaff Fields course. Now, a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event, the Cardiff Cross Challenge attracts an even more diverse range of athletic talent than ever before.

Colin Ingram has said he wants to help Glamorgan win promotion next season after signing a new two-year deal with the county. The South African batsman – who will be 39 years old when the new contract ends – will be one of three overseas players at the club next season, alongside Australians Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser with two of the three players available to be selected for each match. In the games in which he figured this year, Ingram was in excellent form, scoring 596 first-class runs in just five matches, with three centuries.

Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap has admitted her players need to recover quickly from a “brutal” battering by New Zealand if they are to keep their World Cup show on the road. Wales would likely still progress to the knockout stages of the tournament , even if they lost heavily to Australia in their final Pool A match on Saturday. They have a hard-earned victory over Scotland in their opening match safely in the bag, whereas likely rivals for the final knockout spot, Fiji, are probabaly going to need to get something from their match against France.

Mark Hudson insists Cardiff City’s minds are on their midweek trip to Queens Park Rangers, rather than the looming derby at Swansea City Hudson suffered his first defeat in caretaker charge of the Bluebirds at the weekend – a 1-0 home defeat to bottom-placed club Coventry City. It leaves Cardiff back in 18th position, five points above the relegation zone but still only four adrift of the play-off places in a congested mid-table.

Wales take on New Zealand’s Black Ferns on Sunday in their second pool match of the Rugby World Cup and it promises to be a tasty fixture after both nations won their opening encounter. New Zealand trailed by 17 points in the first half of their first home game against Australia, showing they are vulnerable under pressure. Unlike the Black Ferns, Wales started with a bang against Scotland with veteran fly-half Elinor Snowsill orchestrating territory with varied kicks and creating opportunities for the impressive centre Megan Webb.

Nurse Meg Webb plans to keep Wales’ World Cup ambitions looking healthy this weekend after having to spend time earlier in the year making sure she herself came back to fitness. The Wales and Bristol Bears centre – cousin to Wales and Ospreys star Rhys Webb – will be aiming to show her team have powers of recovery to withstand whatever hosts New Zealand can throw at them. It is Wales’ second match in Pool A at the tournament Down Under, following their dramatic opening victory over Scotland and although it takes place in the early hours of Sunday morning, the whole game is being replayed in full later in the day on S4C.

Perry Ng used to throw up before matches – but now he only feels sick if Cardiff City don’t win. There are no more sleepless nights before games, or vomiting in the dressing room ahead of kick-off, for the Bluebirds defender. When he was coming through the ranks at Crewe in League Two, Ng used to have nightmares about the giants he would have to face the next day, but those early years in the lower ranks toughened him up.

Scarlets prop Steff Thomas has paid tribute to former All Black Ben Franks for the form that has been keeping British Lion Wyn Jones out of the starting line-up. Thomas will be on the bench on Saturday night as the Scarlets seek their first victory of the season at home to bottom club Zebre. But for the four previous matches so far, the loose-head spot has gone to Thomas, rather than Wales international Jones, who toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions last year.

Cardiff Cross Challenge celebrates its 25th anniversary on Saturday by welcoming a global entry to Llandaff Fields. The event, which see world class athletes compete alongside local club runners, kicks off the prestigious World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold season. More than 2000 competitors aged from under-11 to over 70 will take part in an 11-race programme contested over a twisting and technical course.

John Kear insists Wales will not be short of motivation when they begin their Rugby League World Cup campaign next week. The tournament – which starts this weekend – gives Wales four days to test the temperature of the event before they dip a toe in with their Pool D opener against the Cook Islands on Wednesday. For head coach Kear that means a few extra days to prepare his squad for a competition few will give them much hope of making a significant mark in.

The champagne bottles may have long been emptied but Trethomas Bluebirds will be hoping the drops that soaked the boots of Levi Rees can work some more magic this weekend. Rees was the goalscoring hero for the Ardal League club last week when they knocked JD Cymru Premier club Haverfordwest out of the JD Welsh Cup, 2-1. It was a notable win for a club not short on ambition. Not only do the Ystrad Mynach-based outfit have desires to one day make it to the Cymru Premier themselves, but they aim to grow their fan-base as a community-serving club, just north of Caerphilly.

Wales coach Ioan Cunningham has told his players they have nothing to lose ahead of their clash against World Cup hosts New Zealand. With one victory already in the bag, Wales are already well on their way to making the knockout stages of the tournament. But no Welsh senior team – male or female – has ever beaten New Zealand on their own soil and Cunningham has urged his players to seize the chance to be history-makers.

By Paul Evans Osian Pryce has rushed to Mexico, where he’ll contest the famous La Carrera Panamericana Road Race. The newly-crowned British rally champion will drive a 1963 Jaguar Mk2 in the Historic B section and be co-driven by Claire Williams. “A very last-minute opportunity came up last week to be a stand in driver […]

Gareth Bale has been told by World Cup chiefs to leave his “One Love” captain’s armband in the dressing room. Wales captain Bale and his England counterpart Harry Kane were both planning to wear the rainbow-coloured armbands in Qatar when they lead out their respective countries at the tournament. It was intended to send a message against discrimination of any kind at a host country which has repressive laws that make same-sex relationships a criminal offence.