The Lions tour is in danger of being dumped next year as the home unions scramble to make sure home Test matches are their top priority. Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland are all fearful of the financial catastrophe which looms if their autumn Test scheduled is wiped out – or played behind closed doors – because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Lions are due to tour South Africa next year on an eight-match trip that could earn £30m.

It was the kick that broke 10,000 Scarlet hearts. Tim Stimpson looked an unlikely assassin, but 18 years ago a blend of deviousness, dedication and technique denied Welsh rugby a team in the final of Europe’s showpiece, as the former England full-back recounts to Graham Thomas. Tim Stimpson tells the story with the practised air of a confident and experienced after-dinner speaker. In a classic match played 18 years ago this week, there were two minutes left between Leicester and Llanelli in a tension-wrapped Heineken Cup semi-final at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground.

Tony Mowbray – manager of Blackburn Rovers, the club sandwiched between Cardiff City and Swansea City in the frozen Championship table – has revealed his doubts over the campaign re-starting. Blackburn sat three points outside of the play-off places at the time of the suspension of the season, with Cardiff one point and one place above them. After the halt to the promotion race arrived seven weeks ago, Swansea were left on the same points as Blackburn and only below Rovers on goal difference.

Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb has revealed why he has been burning the midnight oil to help the National Health Service during the coronavirus crisis. Webb has been working regular night shifts for Vale of Glamorgan-based company TJ Morgan, who make PPE (personal protective equipment) masks for the NHS. Rugby has come to a stop during the global pandemic and the 31-year-old British and Irish Lions star has explained the motive to work on a production line.

By Owen Morgan Some of Wales’ top runners are finding ways of sharpening their competitive edge during the coronavirus crisis. Welsh Athletics, in conjunction with the other home nations, this week announced that the suspension of all competition had been extended until June 30. So, with road races and athletics meetings shut down for at […]

Wales could go on the road to play Test matches if the Principality Stadium is still being used as a hospital when rugby resumes. Head coach Wayne Pivac has revealed that other venue options are being considered – understood to be Cardiff City Stadium and Swansea’s Liberty Stadium – if the coronavirus pandemic still requires […]

Coach Gareth Terrett insists Swansea deserve their promotion to the Investec Women’s Hockey League Premier Division. Swansea were granted their new status – and become the first Welsh club to reach the top flight – after the decision to end the current hockey season. Promotion and relegation issues were based on standings when the leagues […]

Like every other sport, the handbrake has been pulled up on rallying in Wales and the sport faces an uncertain future. But if there’s room for optimism then it stems from knowing this is by no means the first crisis Welsh rallying has faced in recent years, as Paul Evans reports. The classic Welsh forests […]

Football chiefs have been warned that players will not be prepared to re-start the season until they feel safe to do so. The message has been delivered by the Professional Footballers Association as clubs and tournament officials work behind the scenes to draw up plans they believe can end the current shutdown. It is understood medical representatives from Premier League and Football League clubs gathered for a conference call on Saturday to discuss division-wide protocols on a variety of subjects, including training and testing, to allow football to return amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Lily Rice stole the show at last year’s Wales Sports Awards when she took the young sportswoman of the year award. The wheelchair motocross women’s world champion has since been wowing people online with her current keep fit exercises. It’s all part of a move to ensure health and activity that Disability Sport Wales chief Fiona Reid hopes will extend further afield, as she tells Graham Thomas. Welsh Paralympic stars can lead the way in inspiring disabled people and those with long-term health conditions to try and stay fit and healthy during the current lockdown. Athletes such as Nathan Stephens and wheelchair motocross world champion Lily Rice have already posted videos online showing ways of remaining active.

Almost everywhere you turn in Welsh regional rugby the sporting facilities are being used in the fight against coronavirus. While the Principality Stadium, Parc y Scarlets, Cardiff Arms Park, the Ospreys’ training venue at Llandarcy and the WRU National centre of excellence have all been turned into field hospitals or supporting areas, Rodney Parade is playing a vital role in the expanded testing programme for key workers. This week, as the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board extended their testing facility to include critical workers outside the NHS, the home of rugby in Newport for the past 143 years has become vital in the battle against Covid-19.

Former Swansea City manager Graham Potter has warned that football without fans is going to be a “sterile” experience where home advantage counts for nothing. Potter – who left the Swans 11 months ago to take charge of Premier League Brighton – has admitted he has a number of doubts surrounding vague plans for football’s return. Premier League clubs are meeting next week and the focus will be on how they can restart the season, having been suspended since mid-March due to Covid-19.

Tavis Knoyle believes his best years are still ahead of him after signing a new deal with the Dragons. The former Wales scrum-half, now 29, has come through two injury-affected seasons to extend his stay at Rodney Parade. His new two-year agreement will see him battling with another Welsh international, Rhodri Williams, for the scrum half berth. It will also mean he can look forward to making his 50th appearance for the region when rugby re-emerges

S4C is delving into the archives to give viewers another chance to enjoy some unforgettable moments from Wales’ rich sporting past. With the sporting season brought to a standstill by the COVID-19 pandemic, the broadcaster has commissioned several programmes to be shown over the coming weeks, including a host of classic rugby and football matches, sports documentaries and series looking at the latest sporting developments. Rugby fans can enjoy some memorable matches featuring the Wales national and Under 20s teams, in Dyddiau Da. The series will re-live classic matches from three competitions:

No goals to celebrate this weekend, or the week before . . . or, in fact for the past seven weeks. Goals. . . remember them? Remember the joy, the explosions of energy in the celebrations? Owen Morgan does and so here are five of his favourites dating back to way back when. Hearing that Swansea City legend Alan Curtis was celebrating his 66th birthday the other day took me back to the sunlit afternoon he produced one of the greatest goals and joyous celebrations I have ever seen. When Curtis’ unstoppable drive hit the back of Leeds United’s net on the first day of the 1981/82 First Division season, his subsequent spontaneous reaction summed up how all Swans fans were feeling at that exact moment.

The four Welsh rugby regions fear their £120m Guinness Pro14 windfall from private equity company CVC may now slip through their fingers. The cash injection – which would have given the Scarlets, the Ospreys, the Dragons and the Cardiff Blues around £10m each – is now under severe threat due to the sporting shutdown caused by the coronavirus crisis. The company are set to hold a key meeting this week to re-evaluate the risk of buying a 27% stake in the competition.

James Thie is a busy man – even when he’s locked down. The former top four world ranked 1500m runner, now the power behind athletics at Cardiff Met, is keeping his own wheels turning, as well as those of plenty of others, as he told Owen Morgan. Athletics has played a massive part in James Thie’s life for the past 30 years. From competing as an international middle distance runner for Wales and Great Britain, to becoming a hugely successful elite coach, the sport has dominated his waking hours.

Cardiff City players have voluntarily agreed to take partial pay deferrals for three months. The club say the agreement will help “maintain financial stability” during the “unprecedented time of global economic concern”. It says it has taken the step in order to support the club and protect the livelihood of its non-playing personnel.

Ryan Jones admits he will be riding into the unknown this weekend – even though he won’t be leaving the discomfort of his own living room. The former Wales rugby captain – now the Welsh Rugby Union’s performance director – has already run a full 26-mile marathon in his back garden and clocked up 100 miles on his Wattbike, parked up on the patio. Now, he’s moving indoors for his biggest challenge so far, in order to raise funds for charities that are supporting NHS employees during the coronavirus pandemic.

As World Rugby continues to press ahead with electing a new chairman, vice-chair and executive members, the Welsh Rugby Union has so far kept elections to its own governing body on hold. Tom Jenkins says it’s time they moved the campaigning online so that future leadership of the game in Wales can become clearer. If World Rugby can stage an election for its executive committee it does beg the question why the Welsh Rugby Union has held off on hosting the battle for a place on its own council. With the current COVID-19 pandemic making it impossible for meetings to go ahead as scheduled, World Rugby has confirmed that the schedule of May Council and committee meetings will be held remotely, allowing the elections to take place.