The Welsh Rugby Union have been told they need to settle their pay cut dispute with their players before they can get their hands on a £20 million loan. The WRU is in talks with a financial institution for a cash flow injection in order to help pay the bills during the current rugby shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Chairman Gareth Davies has said the Union hoped to secure the loan before the end of July, in order to offset potential losses of £50m.

Welsh weightlifting’s golden boy Gareth Evans has welcomed a move by the International Weightlifting Federation to create a new athlete’s commission to give competitors a greater say in how the sport is run. Evans, an Olympian with Team GB in 2012 and a gold medalist in the 69K class for Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, is already a member of the board at Weightlifting Wales and told Inside The Games website he may consider putting his name forward for the new IWF commission. Both male and female lifters are being sought for the 10 strong panel, which will be comprised of current or recently-retired weightlifters from all five continental federations around the world.

Andre Ayew’s match-winning contribution to Swansea City’s narrow play-off first leg lead over Brentford illustrated his strength of character, according to head coach Steve Cooper. Ayew scored the goal that separates the teams at the hallway stage – flashing an unstoppable shot past David Raya, just minutes after the goalkeeper had saved Ayew’s penalty. In between times, Brentford had Rico Henry sent off for a reckless lunge at Connor Roberts, but it was Ayew’s ability to lift himself from his own failure that proved the decisive moment.

Welsh middle distance runners roared back into action on the track after lockdown with impressive returns at the British Milers Club event at Trafford on Saturday. The trial meeting near Manchester, which featured a series of 800m races, saw just three athletes per heat competing in alternate lanes. Unlike traditional 800m races, the athletes had to keep to their lanes throughout the race in line with social distancing guidelines.

Rhian Brewster has been backed to leave Brentford’s much celebrated BMW on the hard shoulder today as Swansea City motor towards the Premier League. The man who has helped Brewster become fine tuned for the first leg of the club’s Championship play-off at The Liberty Stadium is Andre Ayew – a decade older than the 20-year-old Liverpool loanee. Together, Brewster and Ayew have scored 25 league goals –  not quite at the level of Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins, who have been dubbed the BMW this season with a high performance 57 Championship goals between them for the Bees.

Paul Asquith, Steve Cummins and Tom Botha are all in line to soon qualify for Wales – a residency route Wales did not explore first, but have been happy to exploit since. Few would blame them, since the hardening of the residency qualification – from three to five years – does not come into place until 2021 as Peter Jackson reports. Scotland set the long-distance ball rolling, England joined in, Wales followed suit and Ireland are now poised to complete a Home Nations’ custom. The ritual initiation of would-be All Blacks into the four tribes of the Lions began with Shaun Longstaff enlisting in the regiment of Kilted Kiwis for the first professional World Cup. More recently, the blue jersey has been wrapped around another New Zealander, Sean Maitland.

Athletes in Wales are starting to take their first tentative steps towards returning to competitive action. The sport’s governing body has released competition and officiating guidance in preparation for meetings and races to be staged. Meanwhile, clubs across Wales, such as Bridgend AC and Colwyn Bay are also starting to open their outdoor training facilities.

Merthyr Town manager Gavin Williams is working hard to build a competitive squad for the 2020-21 BetVictor Southern Premier League season. Williams has one of the lowest team budgets at Merthyr’s level, but he has recruited a group he believes will push towards the play-offs. Former Cardiff City youth striker Eli Phipps is among Merthyr’s new signings and he says: “I can’t wait to get started, it’s been a long time coming after the past couple of months. 

The only thing Neil Harris seems to share with Neil Warnock is a Christian name. But if the Championship play-offs go in his favour, then the current Cardiff City manager will have another common identity to his predecessor – that of promotion winner and Premier League boss. To do that, Harris’s team must overcome Fulham over two legs that start on Monday – a considerable challenge given that Fulham have occasionally looked like the best team in the division and they have the most feared striker in the Serbian, Aleksandar Mitrovic.

A plan to honour Rugby League greats from Cardiff is being put together by the city’s council which also hopes official recognition for talents such as Billy Boston will celebrate the capital’s diversity. Before Rugby Union allowed the payment of players in 1995 many Welshmen were forced to head to the north of England and the 13 man code in order to be paid for their talents on the rugby pitch.

Mark Wallace insists he is excited by Glamorgan’s newly announced fixture list for a season he believes will be short but sweet. The county’s director of cricket says his players are desperate to start a campaign that should have begun in April, but will now get going on August 1. The Bob Willis Trophy will commence next week and conclude with a five-day Lord’s final as the 2020 county cricket season finally gets underway after the coronavirus pandemic.

Mike Ruddock has signed a permanent contract with the Ospreys, which will see him remain at the region for at least the next three years. Ruddock, who also won a Grand Slam when he was in charge of Wales, came on board with the Ospreys as performance director on a short-term deal last December, at a time when the region were struggling badly. Now, he has switched to a longer term position as development director at the Ospreys, who have appointed Toby Booth as head coach and Brock James as their new attack coach.

Wayne Routledge has been praised as a “Swansea City legend” after his two goals secured the miracle at the Madejski. The praise was offered by a grateful manager Steve Cooper after the 35-year-old scored a sublime first and play-off clinching second in the 4-1 win at Reading. With Swansea chasing goals late on, it was Routledge who headed home at the far post to put them into the top six in stoppage time against Reading.

The first Cardiff v Swansea play-off final could be a reality next week, even though Cardiff City manager Neil Harris had dismissed it as fantasy before Wednesday night. Harris always believed his team would not falter at the final hurdle and they duly clinched their own play-off place with a 3-0 victory at home to Hull City, who they relegated in the process. But Harris had written off the prospects of Swansea City joining them in the top six, before their rivals completed victory with a six-goal swing over the tally managed by Nottingham Forest.

Left-back James Jennings has called a halt to his three and a half year stay at National League Wrexham. Dragons’ manager Dean Keates was due to have contract talks with Jennings, but the Manchester-born defender has decided to move on. He has signed for Wrexham’s National League rivals Stockport County along with younger brother Connor.

Chaz Davies is ready to resume life at full throttle when the World Superbike series resumes in Spain next week. Wales’ three-time runner-up to world champion Jonathan Rea has been waiting to get back on his bike in competitive action since February, when the only round of the championship so far took place at Philip Island, Australia. But after days of testing in Barcelona with his Aruba.it Racing teammate Scott Redding, Davies is eager to start with a bang when the action returns in Jerez.

Curtis Nelson plans to feel the love of Cardiff City fans tonight and enjoy his own time in the sun. The Bluebirds defender – whose little brother Wes made the final of Love Island in 2018 alongside his now ex-girlfriend Megan Barton Hanson – is determined to clinch the point his team need to secure their play-off spot. A win or draw at home to Hull City on Wednesday would mean Nelson, 27, could couple up with Brentford, Fulham and Nottingham Forest in the Championship play-offs.

Ellis Bevan is pumping iron in his garage in order to muscle his way onto the Cardiff Met production line that feeds into professional rugby. The Wales Under-20 scrum-half is biding to follow in the recent footsteps of Alex Dombrandt and Luke Northmore, who moved to Harlequins, as well as Jac Arthur, Matt Marsh, Cory Lewis and Aled Ward who are all playing in the English second tier Championship. Bevan had an impressive campaign for Wales U20 in the Six Nations earlier this year.

Few indoor sports have returned to Wales – even at elite level – but squash is one that has been able to get back indoors. Things are very different, though, for the likes of Joel Makin and Tesni Evans – the country’s top male and female players – as Graham Thomas discovered. Anyone who thinks using a mask on public transport in Wales is awkward or uncomfortable should consider how it might feel wearing one to play squash. That’s exactly what Wales’ three leading male players are doing at present, having returned to the sport at Cardiff’s National Sports Centre.

Steve Cooper hopes Conor Gallagher can finally break his Swansea goal duck as his team makes a last-gasp bid for a play-off spot.  Chelsea loanee Gallagher, 20, impressed with Charlton in the first half of the season before heading to South Wales where he has made another big impact. His creative spark is a key asset for Swansea head coach Cooper but for all his assists since joining in January, Gallagher is yet to find the back of the net in a white shirt.