By Gareth James New Welsh world champion Zoe Bäckstedt revealed she had her whole family in tears after winning the junior road race title at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Belgium. The teenager from Pontyclun in mid-Glamorgan cried on the podium, while her parents and sister wept tears of joy after watching her […]

Scott Williams has been tipped to recapture the form which originally made him a star on the international stage now he has rejoined the Scarlets. The 58-times capped Wales centre left the Scarlets three years ago to join the Ospreys, but his time at the Liberty Stadium was plagued by injuries. But he’s now returned home to Llanelli, and new Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel is confident he can get the best out of the 30-year-old.

Former Newport County manager and Sunderland defender Len Ashurst has died at the age of 82. Ashurst made 409 appearances for the Black Cats – a club record for an outfield player – before moving into management.

Mick McCarthy accused his Cardiff City players of “capitulation” after their 5-1 humbling at Blackburn Rovers made it five defeats in their last six matches. The Bluebirds boss is under pressure to halt an alarming slump from his team who have lost three Championship matches in succession for the first time since he took charge. In all, Cardiff have lost four of their last five in the Championship as well as their Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton.

Gareth Anscombe has come through the mental and well as the physical tests and is ready for his competitive comeback, according to Ospreys coach Toby Booth. The Wales fly-half will line up at No.10 for the Ospreys in their opening United Rugby Championship clash when they make a derby trip to Rodney Parade to face the Dragons on Sunday. Anscombe, Tomas Francis and promising young flanker Jac Morgan will all make their competitive Ospreys debuts.

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin hailed Flynn Downes after the midfielder was at the heart of their first home victory of the season. Joel Piroe’s first-half strike was enough to secure a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield to end a run of four games without a win. It was a fourth clean sheet in five games at home for Martin’s men, who crucially found a breakthrough after failing to score in their previous two home matches.

The Cardiff Devils will get their 2021/22 Elite League season underway tonight against the Guildford Flames in their home opener at Ice Arena Wales. The Devils face the Flames in the Challenge Cup before visiting old rivals Sheffield Steelers in a Sunday showdown in the Elite League. Now coached by Jarrod Skalde, the Devils have […]

When Dwayne Peel helped the Scarlets win the Celtic League title in 2004, Kieran Hardy was just a small face in the ground. Now, Peel is at the helm for their URC opener at Edinburgh on Saturday and scrum-half Hardy is hoping to absorb plenty of his coach’s know-how as he tells Graham Thomas. Kieran Hardy believes his boyhood hero Dwayne Peel can be the guiding light that enables him to hold onto the Wales No.9 shirt this season. Scarlets scrum-half Hardy was just eight-years-old when his father took him to Stradey Park to see Peel in his pomp clinch the old Celtic League title back in 2004.

By James Skeldon As the domestic cricket season draws to a close, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison believes The Hundred has opened up a whole new audience to the sport. Welsh Fire were one of eight teams to compete in the brand new competition, aimed at bringing in higher revenues to the sport and attracting […]

Kieffer Moore has been left drained of his goalscoring powers by Covid, according to his Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy. The Wales striker has only scored once in 10 matches so far this season and his boss reckons it’s due to a double interruption forced by the virus. Moore – who hit 24 goals for club and country last season, including one at the Euros finals – went down with coronavirus in July, almost immediately after returning from summer duty with Wales.

By Rob Carbon Newly appointed Cardiff Rugby captain Josh Turnbull is set to realising a teenage ambition of playing in one of the world’s most exciting rugby tournaments when he leads his side into the United Rugby Championship. The Wales back-row man believes the expanded, 16-team competition, which will include the top South African franchises […]

Wales’ leading male gymnast, Brinn Bevan, missed out on Olympic selection this year due to injury. But the 2016 Olympian is refusing to be feel downcast and has instead set himself a new ambition – to wear the red vest of Wales at the Commonwealth Games for the first time, as he tells Tom Prosser. Welsh Gymnastics star Brinn Bevan says he can’t wait to get the dragon on his chest as he aims to honour his late father’s side of the family by representing Wales at next year’s Commonwealth Games. Bevan previously competed at the 2016 Olympic Games and has also medalled at the World Championships – winning silver in the team event in 2015.

The Welsh Rugby Union’s net debt has increased to £114.4million but the group was able to record a modest profit before tax of £400,000 in its financial results for the year ending June 30, 2021. With the coronavirus pandemic still in full force, the story of its impact can be found in WRU’s 2021 Annual Report published on Thursday. Turnover was down to £58.1m from £79.9m in 2020 while the £17.2m increase in the group’s bank debut highlights the necessary measures taken to survive the implications of Covid-19 on sport in the country.

Glamorgan’s season may be drifting towards a low key conclusion in the County Championship, but no-one appears to have told captain Chris Cooke. The skipper smashed an unbeaten 205 as Glamorgan spent day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship second division match against Surrey constructing a mammoth total of 672 for 6 declared. The home side responded with 45 for no wicket in the final hour but despite a very flat wicket Cooke hopes the first double-hundred of 35-year-old Cooke’s 12-year first-class career can still set up a victory for his team in their final game of the campaign.

Russell Martin has called on his Swansea City players to be braver after they bowed out of the Carabao Cup following a 2-0 defeat at Brighton. It was a comfortable victory for one of the Premier League’s in-form teams, but Swans head coach Martin was left frustrated by missed chances early on and a lack of ambition after his side fell behind. Martin did claim to have seen a lot of positives, but the fact is his team have now won only three times in their first 11 games this season in all competitions and are winless in their last five.

By Rob Carbon Tomas Francis was the biggest arrival in Welsh rugby this summer in every sense of the word. He is now looking forward to getting his Ospreys career underway and is impressed with how his new team have performed under coach Toby Booth. The Ospreys almost went out of existence in 2019 when a merger with bitter rivals Scarlets was proposed.

Former Swansea City manager Graham Potter comes up against his old club for the first time on Wednesday night, convinced Russell Martin can take them back to the Premier League. Potter – who left the Swans to take charge at Brighton two years ago – will be in the Premier League club’s dug-out for their Carabao Cup tie at the Amex Stadium. It is the first reunion with their former boss for the Swans, who have made a poor start to the season in the Championship with just one win in eight matches.

Wales match-winner Natasha Harding insisted she won’t be losing any sleep over the lack of goals as Wales kept their early World Cup campaign momentum going with a 1-0 victory in Estonia. The Reading striker scored the only goal of the game in the fifth minute in Parnu as Gemma Grainger’s side made it back-to-back victories at the start of their attempt to make the tournament finals. It was not the fluent, free-wheeling display shown in their 6-0 demolition of Kazakhstan last week, and neither was it a scoreline that did much to improve Wales’ goal difference, but Harding was unrepentant.

Jonathan Davies may look one of the coolest rugby players on and off the field, but anyone not pulling their weight for the Scarlets may soon feel a fiery blast from the region’s new captain. The 33-year-old, who has won 91 caps for Wales, has replaced Ken Owens, who has led the region as Scarlets skipper for the past seven seasons. Davies often looks one of the calmest players around but insists: “I can be quite hot-headed when I need to be.

Zoe Backstedt powered to ITT silver on her World Championships debut in Flanders – as father Magnus provided the commentary. The 16-year-old was just edged out of junior women’s gold in Bruges as she kept the family name on the podium.