Laura Deas came agonisingly close to winning a medal in the Mixed Team event at the BMW IBSF World Skeleton Championships in Germany. Deas and Matt Weston finished fourth in Altenberg – just missing out on bronze by 0.42 secs.

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg has promised his team will close down the threat of Wales – and in particular the returning Liam Williams – at Murrayfield on their way to backing up their historic win over England. Hogg led Scotland to their first win at Twickenham since 1983 with a display against the pre-tournament favourites England that was more dominant than the 11-6 scoreline suggested. Another win for Scotland, who have never won the competition since Italy joined to make it the Six Nations in 2000, would put them in a commanding position.

Celtic Dragons head coach Tania Hoffman has much to consider after her team were comprehensively beaten by new franchise Leeds Rhinos in their opening match of the Vitality Superleague season. The Dragons face a less than 24-hour turnaround when they take on Team Bath on Saturday, where they must hope for a rapid improvement. The Rhinos are the newest team in the Superleague, but they fired an early warning sign that they are likely to be dangerous opponents as they ran out 65-35 winners over an out-of-sorts Dragons who failed to get going.

Yan Dhanda’s social media abuser will not be banned from Instagram, a lenient policy that has ignored the promptings of Marcus Rashford. Instagram owner Facebook has said it does “not want racism and hate on our platforms,” but would let the account in question stay active as long as the abuse – directed at the Swansea City midfielder – did not persist for an unspecified number of times. Only the ability to send messages will be restricted for an unstated period of time.

Wales centre Nick Tompkins believes he and Owen Watkin can be the odd couple who prove a puzzle Scotland are unable to solve at Murrayfield. Wayne Pivac’s side have headed north of the border following an opening weekend win against Ireland, but also minus a quarter of their 36-man Six Nations squad sidelined by injuries or suspension. Tompkins and Watkins will be the centre pairing in Edinburgh for round two – a selection combination that would have attracted long odds before the tournament began.

Lauren Price had to settle for silver on her return to the ring after a 16 month absence at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in Hungary. The 26-year-old lost a tough final against old rival and second seed Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands in the 75kg category.

At long last there is some good news for rally fans, with the announcement that the Builth Wells-based Nicky Grist Stages is pressing ahead with plans to run the event on Saturday 10 July. This positive news bucks the trend of rallies being cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions – a situation that pulled the handbrake on rallying a year ago and is likely to keep rally cars in hibernation for the first half of 2021 as well.

Mick McCarthy is delighted with the reaction his squad has had since becoming Cardiff City manager. The Bluebirds boss has seen his side pick up eight points from his first four games in charge including back-to-back wins at Bristol City and Rotherham in the last two matches.

By Hannah Blackwell Rebekah Robinson insists the Celtic Dragons can be the surprise package of this season’s Vitality Netball Superleague, which kicks off on Friday night. The Dragons’ co-captain will lead her team into action against the Leeds Rhinos – the league’s newest franchise – determined to make a fast start to the new season. […]

Laura Deas produced a battling second day display at the World Skeleton Championships in Germany. The 32-year-old Wrexham slider finished 15th overall after producing two runs that were among the top 10 fastest times in Altenberg.

Wales play Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday and go there as firm underdogs for the first time in years. The Scots are doing things differently to Wales, says Harri Morgan – showing both patience and pragmatism missing within the WRU. In the wake of Scotland’s first victory at Twickenham since 1983, Gregor Townsend’s stock has shot up ‘Gamestop’ style. The head coach has been lauded for masterminding the hybrid game plan, which struck a perfect chord between risk and reward.

Welsh boxers Andrew Selby and Jay Harris were sold the dream of world titles and untold riches when they signed with MTK Global, a management and promotional company. What was left untold was the murky dealings of founder Daniel Kinahan, as Fraser Watson explains. When Tyler Hamilton appeared on American CBS News show 60 minutes back in May 2011, you assumed something explosive was coming. Sure enough, the former cyclist proceeded to unveil the harrowing, explicit detail of the doping programme which had supplemented the US Postal team’s ascent to the top of sport. Or more specifically, Lance Armstrong’s ascent.

Wayne Pivac may have called up Willis Halaholo for a likely first Wales cap this weekend, but is not the first time the coach has held faith in his fellow New Zealander. Halaholo will be among the replacements to face Scotland at Murrafield in round two of the Six Nations, a dozen years since the centre made his first big impression on Pivac. That was when the Kiwi coach was at North Harbour and Halaholo was making a reputation at Auckland academy.

Lauren Price will bid to add another gold medal to her growing collection at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in Hungary today. Despite being out of the ring for 16 months, middleweight Price has reached the final in Debrecen so it guaranteed at least silver..

So this time around, there was no imagining what might have been for Swansea City. No half time lead, no controversial comeback from Manchester City, no sight of Pep Guardiola breathing huge sighs of relief at the final whistle. But while Wednesday night didn’t produce the drama of the last FA Cup tie the two sides played out at the Liberty Stadium, there were crumbs of positivity for head Steve Cooper to cling on to.

Laura Deas is facing a second day battle to bag a top 10 spot at the BMW IBSF World Skeleton Championships in Germany. Wales’ 2018 Olympic bronze medalist was 18th after the opening two of her four runs in Altenberg.

By Paul Jones Josh Navidi has suffered another injury setback – ruling him out of Wales’ Six Nations clash against Scotland and joining a long list of sidelined stars. The Cardiff Blues forward – who made his long awaited comeback from concussion against Ireland last week – is thought to have picked up a neck […]

Despite winning the World Cup for Wales and enjoying his biggest individual career win so far, Pontyberem darts player Jonny Clayton says he plans to hold onto his full-time job for the time being. Having lifted the World Cup of Darts alongside fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price last year, Clayton, continued his remarkable rise by winning his first televised PDC event, the Ladbrokes Masters, last month. The victory saw Clayton pocket the £60,000 top prize and gain entry into the 2021 Premier League – a competition pitting 10 of the world’s best players.

Liam Williams is set to return to the Wales team against Scotland this weekend after having seen out his three-match ban following a red card playing for the Scarlets against Cardiff Blues. James Dodd believes the Lions star is exactly what Wales need in order to get their backline moving freely again. Liam Williams was shown a red card for his head clash with back rower Shane Lewis-Hughes at the Cardiff City Stadium in January – an act that proved old habits die hard. While Williams has become one the most exciting players in the world, he cut his teeth as a youngster playing club rugby for Waunarlwydd in Swansea , rather than in any cosseted regional academy.

It was all set to be a difficult night for Swansea City and so it proved – but manager Steve Cooper was left lauding his side’s character following their 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City. The Premier League leaders arrived on the back of 14 straight league and cup wins and after dominating possession in the opening half hour, led when Kyle Walker’s low cross from the right evaded everyone and found the far corner. Swansea had their moments before the break as Jay Fulton and the otherwise outstanding Marc Guehi headed chances wide, but within minutes of the second half starting the tie was over as Raheem Sterling and then Gabriel Jesus scores in quick succession.