Most uncapped players on the eve of their first Six Nations would be nervous but WillGriff John is ready to hit the ground running in Test rugby. It’s fair to say the 27-year-old has taken the long route to the top having been released by the Cardiff Blues at a young age before resurrecting his career in New Zealand with Northland. The tight-head prop, who started out as a No.8, then figured for Doncaster in the English Championship before impressing with Sale Sharks.

Merthyr Town 2, Farnborough Town 0 Former Wales under-21 international Owain Jones believes Merthyr Town can launch a big push to qualify for the BetVictor Southern League play-offs. The Martyrs are 12th in Premier South, 13 points behind Taunton Town in fifth place and have games in hand on most of the teams above them. […]

Bentley factory driver Seb Morris has been announced as the ‘Pro’ driver for French team CMR in this season’s five-round GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – adding to the Wrexham driver’s works commitments in the global Intercontinental GT Challenge. Morris, who was confirmed as an official Bentley racer for 2020 less than a couple of weeks ago, will dovetail his driving duties with the manufacturer’s full works squad, run by M-Sport, with his new role at CMR in GT World Challenge Europe at the wheel of a customer Bentley Continental GT3. He is already a proven force in the championship formerly known as Blancpain Endurance Cup, becoming a podium finisher in the Pro-Am class on his debut in the series in 2018 and establishing himself one of the quickest drivers on the grid.

The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship gets underway on Thursday at the famous Monte Carlo Rally – and it’s where Elfyn Evans will make his competition debut for the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team. In a sport where loyalty between personnel and teams still remains reassuringly common, it’s been an unusually busy winter in the normally quiet rally driver transfer market. Evans (who has never before rallied in the WRC with anyone except the M-Sport Ford team), Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä have all moved to Toyota, world champion Ott Tänak was made an offer he couldn’t refuse by reigning manufacturer champions Hyundai (who keep Thierry Neuville, Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo), Esapekka Lappi is the new star at M-Sport Ford and Citroën missed out on all the big name signings, threw a hissy fit and pulled the plug on its WRC programme. Whilst Ogier, winner of the last six Monte Carlo rallies, will start the first round as favourite to bag early maximum points, the intriguing new driver/car combinations means that there will be a ferociously close fight for the world title this year. Evans could most certainly be in the thick of that battle, as an exciting new era for the Dolgellau star begins.

Coventry City 1, Cardiff City 1 Sam Bowen, the teenage son of form Bluebirds midfield player Jason, scored for Cardiff City in their 1-1 Professional under-23 Development League draw against Coventry City at the Alan Higgs Centre. Bowen struck after 50 minutes, firing a low shot home from an angle past former Cardiff City youth ‘keeper […]

Cardiff City chairman Ken Choo has said the first anniversary of the death of Emiliano Sala is a time to remember the player, while insisting he has no regrets about the actions of the club since. Cardiff and Nantes will pay tribute to Sala one year on from the plane crash which claimed his life at the age of 28, with the clubs still locked in a legal dispute over his transfer fee. On January 21, 2019, the Piper Malibu light aircraft carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson from France to the UK crashed into the English Channel, as he prepared to link up with his new team-mates.

Welshman Matthew Myers brings Cardiff’s four major professional sports clubs together at Cornerstone in Cardiff tomorrow evening. The Bluebirds, Cardiff Blues, Glamorgan Cricket Club and Devils will all be represented on a Question of Sport evening at the venue in Charles Street. Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff City), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) and George North, Matthew Maynard […]

The Dragons have turned themselves around in recent months in a way that few saw coming, not least the other three Welsh regions who used to regard beating them as something to take for granted. Not any more. Robin Davey looks at the transformation at Rodney Parade. Two wins and a losing bonus point in their three recent holiday derbies and a place in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup – that’s the current state of play at the Dragons. No, it’s not a dream, it’s reality. The Dragons – for so long the butt of most of the jokes in Welsh rugby – really did beat the Scarlets and the Ospreys in their festive derbies while gaining a losing bonus point against Cardiff Blues.

Newport County will go into their Leasing.com Trophy quarter-final on Tuesday night without the services of leading scorer Padraig Amond. The Irish striker picked up a bizarre injury taking off his boot in training the day before the 2-0 home win over League Two leaders Swindon Town at the weekend. “It’s nothing serious, he just felt his hip flexor when taking his boot off – the most bizarre thing ever,” admitted County boss Michael Flynn.

Louis Rees-Zammit can still be proud of his breakthrough season – even if his Six Nations hopes with Wales are undermined through injury. The 18-year-old – who broke into Wayne Pivac’s squad for the Six Nations last week – has been applauded by his Gloucester coach Johan Ackermann at their end of a European campaign that has thrown doubt over his fitness for Wales. Rees-Zammit damaged his ankle and had to be helped off the field during his side’s 35-14 defeat at Toulouse at the weekend and faces an anxious wait for scans to reveal the full extent of the injury.

Andre Ayew has predicted big things ahead for Swansea City young loan pairing Rhian Brewster and Conor Gallagher. Ayew’s attempt to guide the Swans back to the Premier League has gained some quality assistance from the signing of Brewster from Liverpool and Chelsea’s Gallagher, who spent the first half of the season at Charlton. Both ex-members of Swans boss Steve Cooper’s World Cup-winning England U17s squad played in the 2-1 victory over Wigan at the weekend, with Brewster’s goal – and then Ayew’s winner – helping lift the club to fifth in the Championship table.

Dewi Griffiths was the coming man in 2017 as he produced a stunning world class marathon time in his first attempt at the distance. Then, the problems started. But now, as he tells Owen Morgan, Wales’ leading distance runner is on the way back. Welsh marathon champion Dewi Griffiths is on the road to recovery – a journey he hopes will continue on the streets of London in April and ultimately lead to this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. The Swansea Harrier has endured a nightmare six months during which he questioned whether he would lead a normal life again, let alone make a return to international athletics.

Neil Harris claimed Cardiff City were denied a penalty and Birmingham City should have been reduced to 10-men during their 1-1 draw at St. Andrews. The draw – Cardiff’s sixth in their last nine games – leaves the Bluebirds five points adrift of the play-off places and left manager Harris again frustrated. Harris claimed a penalty should have been awarded for Marc Roberts’s challenge on Lee Tomlin in the 56th minute.

Wales’ rival scrum-halves Gareth Davies and Rhys Webb could get a European showdown after the Six Nations – providing Toulon play ball. The pair have been drawn together in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup after the Scarlets and Toulon both made it through to the last eight. Webb’s Toulon topped their pool but will face runners-up Scarlets – and Davies – in the first weekend of April, after the Welsh region sneaked through as the final qualifier.

Forget Manchester United’s flying winger Dan James and Wales’ rapid Rugby World Cup try machine Josh Adams, Wales’ real speed kings will be going head to head in Cardiff on Sunday afternoon. Sam Gordon and Jeremiah Azu are due to meet in a sprint showdown over 60m in the Non Thomas New Year Open at the National Indoor Athletics Centre. Azu is the fastest teenager in Europe and was the red-hot favourite to win gold at last summer’s European Under-20 Championships in Sweden before he was cruelly struck down by injury while leading in the final.

Rhian Brewster intends for his opening goal for Swansea City to be the sign of much more to come. Manager Steve Cooper hailed Brewster’s finishing after the Liverpool loanee claimed his first goal in senior football. The England Under-17 World Cup winner was on target as Swansea climbed to fifth in the Sky Bet Championship standings with a 2-1 home victory over Wigan.

The man who guided two Welsh hurdlers to World Championship titles has been awarded a prestigious lifetime achievement award by the International Olympic Committee. Malcolm Arnold OBE coached Colin Jackson to the 110m hurdle title at the 1993 World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, where the Welshman set a world record of 12.91, which still stands as the championship record.

Rhys Carre could soon be heading back to Cardiff Blues as the implosion of Saracens looks set to end with the club’s relegation from the English Premiership. The Wales prop left the Blues to join Sarries at the end of last season, but his two-year contract already looks likely to be ripped up as the continuing salary cap crisis engulfs the club. The double winners have been told they will be demoted into the Championship at the end of the season following a summit of Premiership Rugby Limited chief executives in London on Tuesday.

Neil Harris has claimed the deadline day transfer scramble is a made-for-TV event that prevents more deals going through than it smooths. The Cardiff City manager is still to make a single signing in January with more than half the month gone before deadline day on January 31. Harris says he wants to add three players to his group to enhance the Bluebirds’ chances of launching a play-off surge, but says the window is geared towards television drama, rather than actually trading players.

Oli McBurnie has been given the green light to continue his love affair with Swansea City. Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder says he can relate to his player after the striker was spotted taunting Cardiff fans while watching the Swans last week. Wilder has reminded McBurnie of his responsibilities but says it was refreshing to see a Premier League player still touch with his footballing roots.