A small piece of Welsh sporting history will be made this weekend when the first ever women’s American Football games to be staged in Wales are played.  The Cardiff Valkyries, the only women’s team in Wales, are hosting a four-team tournament at Penarth on Saturday and by late afternoon four full contact games, featuring as many teams, will have been played, not on Welsh soil, but the 3G artificial turf at St Cyres School.  “This will be the first time we’ve ever hosted a tournament, we’ve always been the team that has had to travel and we’ve been to Oxford, Portsmouth or Birmingham,” said Valkyries head coach Simon Browning. 

Lauren Williams is on course for a $70,000 (around £54,000) jackpot after coming through,gh her first fight at the World Taekwondo Grand Slam event opened in China. The 19-year-old from Gwent beat Croatian rival Doris Pole 2-0 to reach the last eight in the -67kg weight division in Wuxi.

Georgia Davies was happy to end the year with another bronze medal as she finished third in the 100m backstroke at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in China. Davies – who also earned bronze for Wales earlier this year at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – finished among the medals on the second day of competition in Hangzhou. The European Champion tied for the third place podium position with Minna Atherton of Australia in a time of 56.74 in what was expected to be a hotly contested and close race.

The crown worn by the best student rugby team in Wales will be up for grabs on Wednesday night when Cardiff Met host Cardiff University at the Arms Park. It will be the second time this season the top two college rugby sides in the country have met and will give a clue as to whether the gap is closing. Both are part of the leading student rugby tier – the BUCS Super League – but Cardiff Met sit second in the table, whilst their city rivals are second from bottom.

Newport County players have been warned ‘Forget all about playing against Leicester City in the FA Cup’. That will be a massive tie for County against the former Premier League champions, but the Exiles have five League Two fixtures between now and the cup clash on January 6. The first of those is against leaders […]

Geraint Thomas’s team-mate Chris Froome is confident Team Sky will still be racing in 2020 – even if it is under a different name. The duo – who are both set to chase Tour de France glory next July – have seen their futures put under a cloud after Sky announced its sponsorship would finish at the end of 2019.

Shaun Pearson believes success remains within Wrexham’s reach despite their crushing 4-0 defeat against Newport County in the Emirates FA Cup. Dragons captain Pearson even believes the boys from North Wales could yet finish the season with two trophies. Promotion to the Football League has to be their priority – Wrexham are currently fourth in […]

Geraint Thomas’  Team Sky future is under a cloud after Sky announced its sponsorship of the team will finish at the end of 2019. Wales’ Tour de France champ has only just agreed a new three year deal with the team that was due to run until the end of 2021.

The Dragons are set to appoint “a world class” coach to replace Bernard Jackman, who was officially removed from his post on Monday. A new man is due to be announced as soon as the beginning of next week and I understand talks are already well advanced with Jackman’s successor – around 90% done. The appointment will be temporary – from the outset at least – lasting until the end of the current season after which both sides will review the situation.

Newport County stormed into the Emirates FA Cup third round tie thanks to a 4-0 home victory against Wrexham at Rodney Parade.  The Exiles now entertain former Premier League champions Leicester City on Sunday, January 6 (4.30pm). The dismissal of Wrexham’s Luke Young after 12 minutes left the Dragons with a massive task. There were […]

Merthyr Town suffered a damaging home defeat against Poole Town in the EvoStik Southern League Premier Division. Second half goals by James Constable (64 mins) and Sam Griffin (77) earned Dorset club Poole all three points from their clash at MetCoaches Stadium. Constable had netted earlier in the game, but that was ruled offside. Craig […]

Having finished runner-up in the Formula 1000 Junior Rally Championship this year, teenage rally star Ioan Lloyd is aiming to go one better in 2019 and win the title outright in his West Wales Rally Spares-backed Citroen C1. This was Lloyd’s second year of competition, having finished fourth overall in the series 2017, driving a Nissan Micra. The Llandysul driver bounced back from retiring on the opening round of the 2018 series to score points on every other event. A hard-to-find engine problem didn’t help his title hopes during the year, although a different car for the final round enabled Lloyd to finish the series with flourish – setting him up for a title challenge in 2019.

The Dragons have yet to confirm it, but Bernard Jackman has been sacked as head coach following poor results, a public rap over the knuckles from the Welsh Rugby Union for criticising a referee last month, and then an embarrassing home thrashing against a Leinster team full of kids. Jamie Phillips says Jackman had to take responsibility, but he also deserves some credit. On 12th June, 2017 former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman was announced by the Welsh Rugby Union as the new coach of Welsh rugby’s perennial strugglers, the Dragons. He came to Gwent with the highest of recommendations from Wales coach Warren Gatland, who said this at the time:

Martin Olsson will not play against this season handing Swansea City a huge blow. The left-back has undergone surgery on the left achilles tendon he ruptured at Brentford last weekend.

Both teams had a player sent off during the Professional Under-23 Development League clash between Charlton Athletic and Cardiff City at Sparrows Lane, London. The home team edged to victory 1-0. Bluebirds full-back Daniel Martin saw red for a late challenge just after the hour, while Charlton’s Ryan Blumberg was dismissed after fouling City substitute […]

Newly-crowned Welsh World champion Jack Shore is returning to Cardiff Bay for his next contest. The man from Abertillery, fighting out of dad Richard’s Tillery gym, is the Cage Warriors World bantamweight champion, having dominated London’s Mike Ekundayo on his feet and on the mat to earn a devastating TKO in the third round. That […]

Penarth Hockey Club’s 1st XI made it two wins on the bounce to bring the curtain down on the first half of their Verde Recreo Premiership campaign, while there were another two victories amongst some mixed results for the club’s other sides. PENARTH 2-0 Team Bath Buccs ‘A’

Manager Gavin Williams and his Martyrs aim to maintain their position in the EvoStik Southern League play-off positions when they take on Poole Town at the MetCoaches Stadium on Tuesday (7.45pm). Merthyr Town are fifth and could climb one place, although they would have to beat Poole and hope Hendon lose at home against Metropolitan […]

Christian Malcolm has been appointed to a top athletics job in Australia. Wales’s four-time Olympic sprinter is to become head of performance and coaching at Athletics Australia.

The Dragons are understood to have sacked head coach Bernard Jackman half way through his three-year contract. The Welsh Rugby Union-owned region decided to act after the Irishman was only able to produce marginal improvements this season, despite an influx of new talent. Under Jackman, the Dragons have won only four times this season in major competitions, with just three victories from 10 Guinness Pro 14 matches and one victory in the European Challenge Cup.