The South Wales Warriors have arrived in London ready for their Division Two British American Football final. The Warriors, who went through their eight game regular season unbeaten, take on the 6-2 Bournemouth Bobcats on the full-size 100 yard 3G pitch at the New River Stadium, White Hart Lane in North London.

Only 31 seats on the plane are available to Wales players seeking a place at the World Cup. James Davies can further his case against Ireland today, but Harri Morgan insists the Scarlets No.7 has a broader influence that may swing tight selection decisions in his favour. At the back end of April, my post-stag do brain drew upon reserves in an attempt to consume the 42 names that Warren Gatland had announced in his Rugby World Cup training squad. I don’t really recall any of the inclusions or omissions being particularly emotive.

Warren Gatland will walk onto the Principality Stadium pitch before today’s game against Ireland for the final time as Wales coach. Wales supporters, both casual and obsessive, will be sad to see him go, but so will a wider coaching fraternity, says Graham Thomas. It’s not just rugby in Wales that will find there is a large hole to fill when Warren Gatland waves goodbye to his adopted nation at the end of August. As the New Zealander prepares for his final game in Wales as national coach – the World Cup warm-up fixture at home to Ireland on August 31 – then the country’s entire coaching community should be bracing themselves for his departure.

Harry Arter divided opinion among Cardiff City supporters during his time on loan with the club last season – and he cleaved managerial attitudes after the Bluebirds’ 1-1 draw at home to Fulham on Friday night. Admittedly, one of those bosses is his brother-in-law, Scott Parker. But there was enough in Parker’s case for the defence – after Arter’s dramatic sending off – to convince the neutral he, at least, had a decent argument. The fiery Arter was shown a second yellow card for a theatrical dive that appeared to come too late for it to be directly related to the clip of his heels by Cardiff’s Sean Morrison.

Elfyn Evans will make his comeback on home soil in October’s Wales Rally GB. The Dolgellau-born racer missed the events in Finland and Germany after injuring his back in a non-championship rally in Estonia last month. Evans will also sit-out Rally Turkey on 12-15 September but specialists have given him the all-clear to drive his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC car in front of his home fans.

A strong local contingent will contest the Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff 10k on Sunday as a sell-out 7,000 runners compete on the flat and fast course. Local club Cardiff AC will provide six sub 30 men to the race, led by Club Captain Matt Clowes. He is the fastest of the club men on paper having run 29:19 in the past and will be targeting an 11th race victory of 2019 in his home city.

Wrexham are going for their own treble chance at the Racecourse, starting against Stockport County on Saturday. Manager Bryan Hughes and his Dragons play their next three Vanarama National League fixtures at home – against County, Maidenhead and Sutton United. They also take on Scottish club Ayr United in a Scottish League Challenge Cup tie […]

Harry Arter faces his Bluebirds pals, including Josh Murphy and Sean Morrison, when he plays for Fulham in their Championship visit to Cardiff City Stadium this evening (7.45pm). AFC Bournemouth midfield player Arter spent last season on loan at Cardiff and now he is at the heart of Fulham’s bid to regain Premier League status. […]

Merthyr Town hit the road for Southern Premier and FA Cup fixtures over the next eight days. The Martyrs travel to play Metropolitan Police at Imber Court in London on Saturday, while they take on Western League Plymouth Parkway in the cup. Manager Gavin Williams and his Merthyr team enter the Emirates FA Cup in […]

Warren Gatland has suggested Wales will be playing a team in boiling turmoil when Ireland arrive in Cardiff tomorrow for gas mark three on the four-notch hob of World Cup warm-ups. The Wales coach has always had a tempestuous relationship with Irish rugby and it is fitting in many ways that his last appearance in Cardiff as national coach should be against the country where he began his Test coaching career. Gatland was viewed as something of a saviour when he transformed the fortunes of Connacht and then had a similar impact on the Ireland team when he took over in 1998, the same year his fellow New Zealander Graham Henry arrived in Wales.

Cardiff Devils have signed Finnish forward Matias Sointu on a short-term contract. A minor injury to Devils captain Joey Martin has put him out temporarily and Sointu will fly into Cardiff as cover later today, although he won’t be involved in tonight’s Champions Hockey League home clash with Czech club Mountfield HK. Martin is week-to-week […]

Natasha Harding was given a pat on the back from Wales manager Jayne Ludlow after the striker blasted a hat-trick in her team’s emphatic 6-0 win over the Faroe Islands. Harding’s goals formed half the total of a dominant Wales display as they opened their Women’s Euro 2021 campaign in style in Torshavn in driving rain on an artificial surface. Further strikes from Kayleigh Green, Emma Jones and an own goal reflected Wales’ control as they warmed up for a tougher assignment in their next tie at home to Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

The film and television industry brought Mick Duncan to south Wales now the Irishman is set to be cast in a leading role in American Football’s Britbowl, writes Twm Owen Championships are by definition special occasions and for South Wales Warrior Mick Duncan this weekend’s British American Football Britbowl XXXIII final is the second such highpoint in a month. While the unbeaten Warriors had been making their way to the Southern Conference final of Division Two of the British American Football Association National League, across the Irish Sea, Duncan’s former team the South Dublin Panthers reached Irish American football’s showpiece final, the Shamrock Bowl, for the first time. 

The best of friends will become the best of rivals over the space of two or three kilometres along the leafy lanes and wide avenues of Cardiff on Sunday morning. Students Ciaran Lewis and Jake Smith live together, eat together, train together, study together and, during the early part of the Cardiff Met University Cardiff 10k, will probably work together.

It’s not often Cardiff City are the underdogs at home in the Championship, but Neil Warnock believes that status will act as added incentive for his players against Fulham on Friday night. Warnock is excited, rather than concerned, about facing a team he feels is all set to return to the top flight next season after dropping down with the Bluebirds earlier this year. As he openly claims, if you finish above the Cottagers this season “you will go up automatically”.

The next two months mark a significant period for Wales men’s football manager Ryan Giggs and women’s boss Jayne Ludlow. Ludlow’s side get their Euro 2021 qualifying campaign underway with a trip to the Faroe Islands this evening. While the men’s team return to Euro 2020 qualifying action when they host Azerbaijan at the Cardiff City Stadium on September 6.

Osian Pryce will contest his first rally in a pukka, fully-homologated, R5 car for the first time in two years when he drives a Hyundai i20 R5 on next month’s Get Connected Rali Bae Ceredigion. The talented 26-year old Machynlleth-born driver was last seen in an R5 car on the 2017 British Rally Championship – which, had it not been for mechanical problems with his then Ford Fiesta R5, he would have won. His last finish in an R5 car was on the FIA World Rally Championship stage, when he came home a superb fourth in WRC2 on the 2017 Rally Finland. Co-driven by Llanfyllin-based Dale Furniss, Pryce’s car will be run by Melvyn Evans Motorsport and has support from Wynfford Williams Car Sales, Pirelli, G&M Pryce Ltd and Hockly Motorsport.

Wales new boys Rhys Carre and Owen Lane have been promised a baptism of fire when they make their international debuts against Ireland on Saturday. Carre and Lane, who played in the same Wales age-grade sides together, will feature for Wales for the first time in a side captained by Josh Navidi. They are part of a side showing 14 changes from the team that beat England in their previous World Cup warm-up game.

Angharad James believes Wales manager Jayne Ludlow can prove the difference between qualification success and failure in their Women’s Euro 2021 campaign. The tournament qualifiers begin on Thursday evening with Wales in the Faroe Islands for their first match – almost a year to the day since their last competitive tournament fixture when a 3-0 home defeat to England ended Wales’ chances of going to the World Cup. Since then, Wales have had to make do with friendly games in the long wait to resume their dreams of making their first tournament finals. They have only won once in those seven matches – a 1-0 victory over New Zealand in June – but the meaningful action starts now.

Swansea City manager Steve Cooper pinpointed the return of Jack Evans as the highlight of his team’s emphatic 6-0 thrashing of Cambridge United. The Swans will travel to Watford for the third round of the Carabao Cup after their convincing win at the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday night, where Cooper brought on Evans for the final 17 minutes. It was a poignant moment for the 21-year-old midfielder, and the club, as his debut appearance came just a year after he was given a cancer diagnosis.