Swansea University are relishing this year’s women’s Six Nations championship with seven players linked to their set-up. The university’s head of rugby, Siwan Lillicrap, will captain the squad – leading a group of 34 players bidding to win their first championship. But there are six other players with their roots at the institution, all looking to play their part when Wales kick off their campaign against Italy at Cardiff Arms Park on February 2.

Neil Harris admitted he was looking for something more comfortable than Cardiff City’s thrilling 4-3 replay victory at Carlisle in the FA Cup. Aden Flint scored twice to secure the Bluebirds a fourth-round tie at Championship rivals Reading, but League Two strugglers Carlisle gave them a scare along the way. Carlisle shocked their visitors with an early goal by Nathan Thomas, but Cardiff quickly struck back with Flint scoring twice either side of Josh Murphy’s effort.

English rugby has always provided Wales with international players over the years, but few coaches have proved as willing to tap into the neighbour’s resources as Wayne Pivac. Good thing, too, argues Robin Davey, who says the new Wales chief deserves applause for his daring approach. Wayne Pivac clearly doesn’t believe in hanging about. One friendly in against the Barbarians after succeeding Warren Gatland as Wales coach and he’s gone for a bold approach that would have even Gatland raising his eyebrows back in his native New Zealand. For Pivac – in a big 38-strong Six Nations squad chosen to prepare for the opening game against Italy at the Principality Stadium on February 1 – has named five uncapped players, four of them from English clubs, all of them pretty much out of the blue.

Cardiff Devils have four players in Great Britain’s team for next month’s ice hockey qualifiers for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Josh Batch, who has been on the wing for Devils, is named among the defensive corps along with Mark Richardson, while goalie Ben Bowns and forward Matthew Myers complete the Cardiff contingent. Head coach Pete […]

Some don’t like it hot. Hollie Arnold – Wales’ world champion javelin thrower – is one of them. But as she prepares for a hot, sticky Tokyo in August and the Paralympic Games, she tells Graham Thomas how she is preparing to stay cool under pressure. Hollie Arnold will be turning up the heat on herself in 2020 as she prepares for this year’s high temperature mark on her schedule – August’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The world champion javelin thrower – who broke the world record to claim gold for Wales at the Commonwealth Para Games in 2018 – is determined to defend the Paralympic title she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

AFC Bournemouth 1, Cardiff City 0 Left-winger Khavarn Williams, a 16-year-old who was born and raised in London, sent Cardiff City crashing out of the FA Youth Cup at the Vitality Stadium in Dorset. Williams, who has Jamaican parents and is nicknamed ‘Varny’ by team-mates, joined the Cherries Academy from Fulham and his 24th minute […]

Wales scrum-half Aled Davies could be on his was from the Ospreys to join English giants Bath. The West Country club have expressed an interest in signing the 27-year-old who is out of contract at the end of the season and has a big decision to make over his future. Davies falls short of the 60 caps required to move outside of Wales and remain eligible for national selection, having only won 20 caps.

Teenage wing Louis Rees-Zammit and Saracens centre Nick Tompkins have both been named in Wales’ Guinness Six Nations squad. They are joined by three more uncapped players in Sale Sharks prop WillGriff John, Wasps lock Will Rowlands and Scarlets wing Johnny McNicholl, and there is also a recall for scrum-half Rhys Webb. Webb last played Test rugby just over two years ago before joining French club Toulon and ruling himself out of Wales contention because he did not meet the minimum 60-cap selection criteria for players plying their trade outside the country.

A resolute defence enabled Joe Westwood to become the hero as Coleg Gwent secured a famous 11-8 victory over Coleg Y Cymoedd to win the Welsh Schools and Colleges League final. With Coleg Gwent trailing with six minutes to go, up stepped Westwood with a terrific penalty from 45 metres before sealing the title with a well-taken drop goal in difficult conditions at Sardis Road. Defending champions Coleg Y Cymoedd dominated most of the game but couldn’t turn territory and possession into points.

Swansea City are poised to complete their third loan signing of the transfer window with the addition of Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher. The 19-year-old has spent the first half of the season at Charlton and played against the Swans in the Championship on January 2, when Steve Cooper’s side edged a 1-0 win. But the looseness of the loan regulations allow parent clubs to recall their players and shift them on to somewhere they consider more beneficial.

Saracens chief Mark McCall expects Wales to conduct a cross border raid by including his centre Nick Tompkins in their Six Nations squad. McCall has revealed that Wales coach Wayne Pivac has been alerted to Tompkins’ availability and the 24-year-old Sarries and former England U20 star is set to be named in Pivac’s squad for the tournament when it is announced on Wednesday. Pivac has a dilemma at outside centre since Jonathan Davies, Owen Watkin and Willis Halaholo are all injured – leaving a gap to be filled for the opening fixture against Italy on February 1.

Seb Morris will realised a lifetime motorsports dream of becoming a fully-fledged ‘Bentley Boy’ this year, after the renowned British manufacturer confirmed the 24-year old in its official factory line-up for the full 2020 race season. Marking by far the biggest moment in his professional sports career to date, Wrexham-born Morris will race with Bentley’s full ‘works’ team in the worldwide Intercontinental GT Challenge and will also support the brand’s rapidly growing network of customer racing teams around the globe. Set to pilot the No.8 Bentley Continental GT3 prepared by M-Sport in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, Morris is understandably elated with the career-changing opportunity and cannot wait for the 2020 season to begin.

Cardiff City are aiming to line-up a revenge mission against Millwall in an FA Youth Cup tie this evening. The young Bluebirds play AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in Dorset (7pm) – and the winners will play Millwall at home in the last 16. The Lions stand top of Professional Under-18 Development League South […]

Louis Rees-Zammit has broken into another team – in the same week he is expected to be included in the Wales squad for the 2020 Six Nations. The teenage Gloucester wing – who signed a long-term contract with the English club on Monday and is the current Premiership player of the month – has been named in the Cardiff Schools Team of the Decade, published by The Rugby Paper. Rees-Zammit, who is the nephew of the former Cardiff, Pontypool and Wales B full-back Paul Rees, will qualify for England this year on residency and has been sounded out by the World Cup finalists’ head coach, Eddie Jones. But he wants to play for the country where he was born and raised.

Wales can boast two world class women boxers – world champion Lauren Price and Olympic hopeful Rosie Eccles, who both came through Pontypool Amateur Boxing Club. For Eccles, 2020 is all about positive thinking and moving on from last year, as she told Owen Morgan. Rosie Eccles isn’t someone who dwells on past disappointments. In August, a contentious decision denied her a place in the final of the European Boxing Championships and two months later a narrow loss to a top class opponent saw her exit the World Championships after her second bout.

Ashley Barker is heading home to Wales to join Newport County from Sheffield Wednesday. The 23-year-old former Wales U21 defender is dropping down two divisions to get regular football after signing a deal that will keep him at Rodney Parade until at least the end of the 2021 season. “I enjoyed my time at Sheffield Wednesday, but it was time for me to move on. As soon as I found out there was interest, it was a no-brainer for me to come back home to Wales and accept this great opportunity,” said Barker.

Wales hooker Elliot Dee is backing Coleg Gwent to crown themselves national champions – and give more players the springboard to play for their country. Dragons star Dee has been invited to provide a pre-game pep talk to the class of 2020 before they face Coleg Y Cymoedd in the Welsh Schools & Colleges League final on Tuesday at Pontypridd’s Sardis Road. The match – which is live on the S4C website and Rugby Pawb Facebook page from 7.30pm, with highlights on Rygbi Pawb on Wednesday at 10.30pm – is a showdown between the top two finishers in the league this season and suggests a shift in the power base of U18 rugby.

Elfyn Evans has made his first official public appearance as a Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team driver after attending the squad’s pre-season launch at the Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan. After a long career with Ford, dating back to 2007 when he first competing in a Fiesta ST, the 31-year old Dolgellau ace made a big career-decision at the end of last year to leave M-Sport – which is as much a second family as it is a motorsports team for Evans – to join arch rival Toyota. Together with co-driver Scott Martin, Evans will once again be a team-mate to six time World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier (as he was at Ford a few years ago) and also to one of the hottest young drivers in the series, 19-year old Kalle Rovanperä.

Cardiff Devils 5, Dundee Stars 2 Owners Steve King, Brian Parker and Craig Shostak sang, cheered and yelled their Cardiff Devils team through their Elite League victory against Dundee Stars. The pals from Calgary in Canada, plus 12 friends and family, watched from the block 13 standing section – an area where flags, hooters and […]

Ben Cabango and Ben Wilmot have been tipped to go from strength to strength after coming through their derby day examination. The Swansea City pair were the pillars on which Steve Cooper’s side built their resistance as they kept a clean sheet in the goalless draw at Cardiff City on Sunday. Cabango, 19, and 20-year-old Wilmot dealt with the aerial challenge of the home side and although the Bluebirds’ Callum Paterson hit the bar late on, they were not exposed as some had predicted before the game.