Pontypridd stalwarts Dafydd Lockyer and Chris Dicomidis will continue to add their wealth of experience to the Sardis Road squad next season after signing on for another 12 months of action in the Indigo Group Premiership. Between them the two former Wales U21 caps have played 739 games for Ponty  over the past 16 seasons. Lockyer will be 35 next month, while Cypriot international Dicomidis will reach the same landmark in September.

Newport County and other League One and Two clubs have been told to expect their season will soon be declared over. The prediction has come from Salford co-owner Gary Neville, who says he is “99 per cent certain” that his club, County and others in League Two will soon be forced to abandon the current campaign. On Friday morning The Athletic reported that the EFL will tell clubs in League One and League Two there is no chance of playing any more games and ask them to vote on a method to decide promotion and relegation.

Ellis Jenkins had a dampener put on his career almost 18 months ago when he badly injured his knee. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the 27-year-old Cardiff Blues and Wales flanker is now forced to start every day with an icy cold shower. It is all part of an experiment being conducted by Robin Sowden-Taylor – head of strength and conditioning at the Blues – to examine the effects of cold submersion on inflammation and healing.

Ben Cabango was in the middle of a stunning debut season for Swansea City before the lockdown came. Now, the teenager has a new challenge – sticking to a strange new routine that he hopes will keep him on course for a future international breakthrough with Wales, as he told Graham Thomas. Routine and rewards are the ways ahead through the lockdown, suggests Swansea City defender Ben Cabango. The 19-year-old – who has won rave reviews in his breakthrough season for the club – admits life at home when the football season shut down took some getting used to.

There was a distinctly Cardiff-based theme running through the fastest times registered during the Bannister Virtual Miles event held this week. The time trial was organised by the British Milers Club to raise money for charity and celebrate the 66th anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile barrier. The event also gave athletes of all standards from all over Britain the opportunity to enjoy some competitive running during the coronavirus lockdown. Each athlete covered the classic distance alone before uploading the data of their run onto the Opentrack results system.

Wales’ summer tour to New Zealand will be officially cancelled next week after the host union told half its staff they will be losing their jobs. The tour – which was meant to go ahead in July – will be scrapped with major doubts over when and if the planned two Tests will now be rescheduled. Wayne Pivac was meant to return to his homeland for his first tour as Wales coach with Tests in Auckland on July 4 and Wellington on July 11, after having played a one-off Test in Japan on June 27.

Steve ‘Wally’ Blackmore, the Cardiff prop who helped Wales beat Australia to clinch their best finish at a World Cup in 1987, has died after a long battle against a brain tumour cancer. He was 58. WRU chairman, Gareth Davies, who played with Blackmore at Cardiff, led the tributes to the four-times capped prop. “Steve was a larger than life character who always had a smile on his face. We played together at Cardiff and I remember him being a very skilful, all-round player who made the most of his talent,” said Davies.

The sporting lockdown presents challenges for every generation. But none more than for the over 70s, for whom minimising contact with anyone outside their household has brought particular challenges. Two legends of Welsh sport – Lynn Davies and Phil Bennett – give Graham Thomas their best tips for staying healthy and active. We all need a hero these days – even Olympic champions. Lynn Davies – forever known as Lynn the Leap thanks to his exploits in winning the long jump at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games – says he’s been inspired by Captain Tom.

The Welsh fitness coach who helped the Springboks win the World Cup last year is returning to British rugby to take over as Head of Physical Performance at Leicester Tigers. Aled Walters had been the Head of Athletic Performance at SA Rugby since 2018 and was widely credited with having played a key role in the 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph. He had previously spent four seasons at the Scarlets, worked as head of S&C with Tarakanki and then took over as athletic performance coach at the Brumbies in Super Rugby.

Alex Smithies has gone 10 weeks without conceding a goal but these are still testing times for goalkeepers – locked down with nothing to keep at bay except their own frustrations – as the Cardiff City keeper told Graham Thomas. Like all goalkeepers, Cardiff City’s Alex Smithies is used to a certain amount of isolation. But the club’s last line of defence admits that the current lockdown is testing even his ability to be self-reliant and self-sustaining.

Rhys Jones should have been preparing to jet to Japan this summer. But instead of counting down the days to his third Paralympics, the Welsh sprinter is at home – keeping body and mind intact – as he awaits freedom from lockdown as he told Owen Morgan. Para sprinter Rhys Jones is keeping both his body and mind in health during the current lockdown – thanks to a flexible approach and the care of others. The Great Britain international – a Paralympian in both London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 – has been grounded at his Clydach Vale home for the past few weeks.

Cardiff City and Swansea City could be part of a legal fight against the Premier League if the Championship clubs are denied promotion. English Football League chairman Rick Parry made the warning as plans continue for a return to action for the top flight – but with no agreement yet on whether any clubs would be under threat of relegation. Parry had been called to give evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on sport and he highlighted the particular difficulties facing the 71 clubs in his competition.

Would ewe believe it! Brecon rugby club often have lamb on their menu, but now they’ve got sheep all over their pitch. Club chairman and part-time shepherd Paul Amphlett has found a novel way to tend to his flock, raise some money for the NHS, and get back to work as a paramedic thanks to the green, green grass at Parc de Pugh.

There’s an anniversary looming . . . and not just 10 weeks since we last saw any football. A significant milestone waits just ahead for those who spent many memorable afternoons and evenings at Swansea’s Vetch Field, such as Owen Morgan. When I read on Twitter the other day that it’s 15 years since Swansea City played their last league match at Vetch Field, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I know most of us are struggling to know what day of the week it is and just how long we’ve now been in lockdown, but FIFTEEN years since Adrian Forbes scored the winner against Shrewsbury.

Swansea-based Langland Bay has received the first Wales Golf Club of the Decade Award after a host of improvements, including introducing more than 300 people to play golf regularly. The stunning venue on the Gower coast also has had the largest ladies section in Wales for the last five years, has made large strides in terms of the quality of course, visitor numbers, membership retention and attraction, with steady progress throughout the last 10 years. Langland Bay has been shortlisted eight times in the last 10 years for the Wales Golf Club of the Year Award, winning in 2013. The Club of the Decade is a new award for 2020.

Rhys Webb is still the same “cheeky” scrum-half of 12 years ago, according to the former Wales U20s teammate who shared one of the team’s greatest – and most controversial – victories. Haydyn Pugh was alongside Webb, Dan Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny and Jonathan Davies in a national age group side captained by Sam Warburton. Five future British and Irish Test Lions were in the Wales U20s team that beat France in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Junior World Championship – a drama-packed encounter that is being shown again on S4C on this evening (May 4).

Connor Roberts has swapped building attacks for Swansea City and Wales to making bookshelves and bird boxes in his garage. The 24-year-old full-back is filling in extra time in his daily schedule during lockdown by turning his hand to his favourite hobby – carpentry. Instead of watching re-runs of old football matches, Roberts has been glued to shows like The Repair Shop, Homes Under The Hammer and Escape to the Chateau DIY.

The Dragons have won the race to snap up Nick Tompkins for next season and will also be adding fellow Welsh international Jonah Holmes to their back division. Tompkins has signed a one-year deal to play at Rodney parade while Saracens are in the Championship next season, but will return to his parent club to resume his ling-term contract there in 2021-22. Despite winning the Junior World Championship with England at Under 20 level, Tompkins was able to use his Wrexham-born grandmother to qualify for Wales this season.

Jonny May might be among the fastest wingers in the world, but he will have to get his skates on to keep up with Gloucester rookie Louis Rees-Zammit when he returns to Kingsholm later this year. Rees-Zammit has been picking up tips on wing play from the likes of George North, Josh Adams and Liam Williams since being called into the Wales Six Nations squad this season and the talented teenager can’t wait to pick the brains of England’s finest. More than that, he’d love to challenge England’s fifth highest try scorer to a race in training when they become team mates in the next few months. Just to see how he measures up against arguably the fastest player in England!

Welsh Amateur champion Archie Davies has claimed the Wales Golf Amateur of the Year Award for the second year running.Davies is currently back in the UK while his American college career is interrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, working on his game where possible and also carrying on his studies online during lockdown.