Warren Gatland has rolled the dice in his World Cup selection but Robin Davey says the proof of the pudding will be in the Japanese eating and that the Wales coach has good form in the kitchen. Warren Gatland has enjoyed unprecedented success in charge of Wales, but as he heads into his final challenge at the World Cup in Japan he has taken a big gamble. He has decided to go to Japan with only five players in arguably the most testing, most demanding position of all at prop, and one of those is a rookie.

There will be no Welsh athletes competing at the World Athletics Championships in Doha later this month – unless the sport’s global governing body step in to offer world ranking invitations. The final Great Britain team was announced on Tuesday with the news that marathon runner Dewi Griffiths – who had been pre-selected following his excellent showing at the London Marathon – had been forced to withdraw through illness. The Swansea Harrier has been suffering from unexplained fatigue and headaches which have prevented him from training properly in preparation for the championships.

Joe Rodon has sprung to the defence of Daniel James after Manchester United fans criticised his Wales teammate. Far from letting recent success go to his head, James will not get carried away after making a sensational start to his United career, according to his former Swansea City team-mate Rodon. James has been the shining light during United’s stuttering early-season performances, scoring three goals in four games since completing a £15million transfer from the Swans this summer.

Jayne Ludlow has admitted she has never felt as agitated on a touchline after a defeat that has put a big question mark over Wales’ ability to qualify for the Women’s European Championships in 2021. Tuesday evening’s 2-2 draw with Northern Ireland at Rodney Parade may be just two points dropped in a campaign that is only two matches old, but it was the manner of the performance that concerned the manager. Ludlow spent the last 20 minutes screaming instructions to her players before her worst fears were realised when the visitors snatched an equaliser in the third minute of stoppage time.

Gareth Bale remains the key man to Wales’ European Championships hopes, according to John Hartson. Former Celtic, Arsenal and Wales striker Hartson insists Wales are still heavily reliant on their ‘main man’ – despite his troubled recent few months in Spain. The 29-year-old Real Madrid star was criticised by some after two lacklustre performances in Wales’ two Euro 2020 qualifying defeats against Croatia and Hungary in June.

Cardiff’s Dan Nash returned from the International Association of Ultrarunners 50km World Championships in Romania with two bronze medals and a new British record under his belt. Making his debut in a Great Britain vest, Nash finished third in the men’s race in a time of 2:49.01, beating the previous British record of 2:53.41 set by Jeff Norman in 1985.

Jayne Ludlow insists Wales will not take Northern Ireland lightly tonight – despite their opponents’ disastrous start to their Euro 2021 qualifying campaign. While Wales were lording it in the Faroe Islands – where they were 6-0 winners in their opening tie – Northern Ireland were hammered by the same scoreline at home against Norway. Admittedly, the Norwegians were World Cup quarter-finalists this summer and are a class above the Faroe Islanders, but it was still a scoreline that few saw coming.

Wayne Routledge, the man who refused to turn his back on Swansea City, has been hailed as inspiration to the youngsters who have taken the club to the top of the Championship. The 34-year-old was due to join the mass exodus from the Liberty Stadium over the past 18 months when his contract expired at the end of last season, but agreed new terms, and a much reduced salary, to stay for another year. At the time Tweeted he was “beyond happy” and three months on he was able to add after his last-gasp winner at Elland Road last weekend that if you “keep working, special things can happen.”

Cory Hill has admitted he’s “pushing his luck” trying to get to a World Cup with a broken leg. But the Dragons lock insists he will do everything he can in pursuit of his target as he recovers from a stress fracture. Hill has not played since February, when he scored a try during Wales’ Six Nations victory over England, after being struck down by an ankle injury initially and now a hairline fracture.

A trio of Welsh athletes have fallen agonisingly short in last gasp bids to achieve the World Athletics Championships qualifying standards. Dai Greene, Bethan Davies and Ieuan Thomas, all needed to gain the qualifying times by midnight on Sunday in order to meet British Athletics’ selection criteria for the Doha championships later this month. However, there may still be an outside chance of qualification if world athletics’ governing body, the IAAF, allocates further invitations in order to fill any vacant places at the championships.

Jake Smith and Charlotte Arter were popular local winners at the 35th Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff 10k. Cardiff AC’s Arter and Jenny Nesbitt had started as big race favourites in the women’s race and they passed 5km in 16:11 with Arter going on to win in 32:45 and Nesbitt going under 33 minutes for the first time with 32:52. Arter’s win hinted at the kind of form that saw her claim the British 10,000m title in 2018 and that gained her a Welsh record over the half marathon distance back in February with a British rankings lead of 69:40.

Rob Evans and Samson Lee have missed out on World Cup selection because coach Warren Gatland wanted “durable” props for Japan. The experienced front row pair were the big surprises when Gatland named his 31 players for Japan on Sunday afternoon as Rhys Carre and Dillon Lewis were picked ahead of them. Scott Williams was also left out, but the centre was always a long shot because of a recent back injury, while the experience of Rhys Patchell gave him the edge over Jarod Evans.

Forest Green Rovers 0, Newport County 2 Bristol-born goalkeeper Joe Wollacott had an afternoon to forget at the New Lawn in Gloucestershire. The 22-year-old, signed on a season-long loan from Bristol City, has kept four clean sheets for Forest Green Rovers this season, but dropped a big clanger to gift Newport County their first goal, […]

Professional Development Under-18 League Cardiff City 2, Wigan Athletic 2 Former England under-15 international Ntazana Mayembne scored two goals for Cardiff City in their Professional Development Under-18 League match against Wigan Athletic. Mayembe, a 16-year-old attacking midfield player whose family are from Zambia, fired City in front after five minutes and then equalised on 48 […]

Professional Under-23 Development League Nottingham Forest 4, Cardiff City 1 Coach Andy Legg made seven changes to his Bluebirds’ development team against Nottingham Forest and they slumped to defeat. Goalkeeper Brian Murphy, Tom Sang, Ben Margetson, Tavio Kouakou D’Ameida and Gary Madine, Jake Evans and trialist Liam Soule were called up for the match at […]

Steve Cooper had a three-word replay to anyone prepared to start talking about promotion for Swansea City even though it was still August. “We are growing,” said the Swans manager – a neutral response to chatter about a return to the Premier League after his team gained an eye-catching 1-0 victory at Leeds United that took them to the top of the Championship. “It is the perfect result – a clean sheet away from home and scoring one,” said Cooper after the evergreen Wayne Routledge’s goal had taken his team to the summit.

It was a disappointing end to Warren Gatland’s final match as Wales coach at the Principality Stadium. After a poor first half for the home side, they looked likely to threaten a comeback towards the end of the second, but it was Ireland who spoiled the farewell party. Second half tries from Owen Lane and Rhys Patchell weren’t enough to secure victory for Wales and although the makeshift team gave a more promising second 40 minutes, Ireland claimed a 22-17 victory.

England won the annual under 16 international against Wales for the second year in a row but not without surviving a scare in the first half where Wales took a 12-6 lead. The visitors took advantage of Welsh errors in the first half as well as a second-half sin-bin, to give them a slightly flattering scoreline but a deserved win in a competitive game.

Two touchdowns at either end of the game have won the South Wales Warriors the Division Two South Britbowl XXXIII title. The championship completes a remarkable turnaround for Wales’ only senior American Football team who just two years ago endured relegation and a winless season after voluntarily giving up their place in the top tier Premiership. Last year, the Warriors’ first back in the basement division since 2011 when they also won the Britbowl, saw heartache at the semi-final stage.

Cardiff Devils 3, Mountfield HK 2 Cardiff Devils stand top of their group, one point ahead of Graz 99ers, after the opening Champions Hockey League fixtures. Blair Riley, Mike McNamee and Charles Linglet scored Cardiff’s goals on a memorable evening at the Viola Arena in Cardiff Bay. The next CHL test for Devils is against […]