When the Guinness Pro 14 season kicks-off this weekend, all four Welsh regions will be desperate to improve on their varied rungs of the league ladder. For the Dragons, though, there are reputations, jobs, and the faith of their fans at stake as Jamie Phillips reports. Who would have thought that a Guinness Pro 14 opening round match at home against Benetton would be a ‘must win game’? But for the Dragons that’s exactly what it is. In fact, the three home games in September against Benetton, the Southern Kings and Zebre are all must win games.

No sooner had Phil Pratt guided the British wheelchair basketball world title in Hamburg than he was setting in his sights on more gold at the Tokyo Paralympics in two years time.

A combination of pent up aggression and sticky tape saw Aled Davies through to winning his second gold medal of the World Para Athletics European Championships on Sunday. The world record holder’s problem-plagued season continued as he snapped his leg brace during the men’s F63 shot put final in Berlin. With the competition still in the balance, Davies was forced to improvise by carrying out an emergency repair job on the brace with some sticky tape.

Team Wales skipper Non Stanford will get another crack at the Commonwealth Games course when she returns to the Gold Coast next month as part of the British team at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final. The former world champion finished eighth at the Gold Coast and is one of 34 elite athletes named by British Triathlon for the return event between 12-16 September.

Melissa Courtney’s wonder season could be about to get even better after she was included in the 5000 metres for the world famous Weltklasse event in Zurich on Thursday. The Commonwealth Games 1500 metre bronze medallist has already bagged two Welsh records this year over 3000 and 5000 metres and could threaten here all-time best of 15:04.75 record in Berlin as she finished fifth at the European Championships.

Wales beat the top ranked Czech Republic 3-0 in Vilnius to bag a place in the next round of the Hockey Open Series. Only the top three teams in the five-sided tournament make it through to the next phase in 2019 and after losing 1-0 to the Ukraine the Welsh side needed to be at their best against a Czech side ranked seven places above Wales in the world at 19th.

For the first time this season, Graham Potter did not try to varnish the truth, find a positive, or seek to defend Swansea City’s owners for their recklessness after the club’s first defeat of the season. The 1-0 home loss to Bristol City had so little to commend it from a Swans perspective that even the bushy-tailed Potter looked downcast and accepting of the opposition’s superiority – opponents who had failed to win any of their opening four matches this season. Swansea were desperately poor in the first-half, so abject that Potter’s normal faith in his young team had extinguished by the break during which he made two changes.

Michael Flynn’s Exiles are enjoying life near the top of League Two, but the manager wants his team to find a ruthless streak. Newport-born Flynn has led his County team on a five-game unbeaten run in league and cup, but he is keen to see his team kill off opposing teams when they have the […]

Wales’ Olivia Breen claimed a bronze medal in the T38 100m at the World Para European Athletics Championships, despite suffering from a knee injury. Breen, who won gold in the long jump for Wales at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, opted not to compete in the event in Berlin due to the problem.

Former Cardiff City defender Roger Johnson was celebrating in North Wales after playing a key role in Bromley’s fightback against Vanarama National League leaders Wrexham. Captain Johnson and his Bromley team battled back from 2-2 down to earn a draw at the Racecourse and Neil Smith, manager of the Kent club, said: “The players showed […]

Cardiff Devils rocked Coventry Blaze with a first period blitz which left them breathless. A new-look Blaze team, coached by Danny Stewart, were leading 1-0 when Devils launched a spell of four goals in three minutes 16 seconds.  Joey Martin scored on the powerplay (15-41), Ben Blood fired Devils in front (17-16), Mike Hedden added […]

Tom Meechan headed Merthyr Town’s winner in their 1-0 EvoStik Southern League Premier away win at Farnborough in Hampshire. The former Newport County striker headed in from close range after 56 minutes after a well worked Merthyr move. Ian Traylor, usually clinical in front of goal, could have made it 2-0 five minutes later, but […]

Bluebirds’ owner Vincent Tan watched Cardiff City battle to a goalless draw against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium. Tan joined 2,300 Cardiff fans in West Yorkshire and then headed to the airport immediately after the final whistle for his flight home. Malaysian businessman Tan talked about his relationship with manager Neil Warnock before […]

  Daniel Griffiths and Jacob Davies scored second half goals for Cardiff City in their 2-0 Under-18 Professional Development League match against Barnsley away. Goalkeeper George Ratcliffe kept a third clean sheet in three matches and the young Bluebirds, coached by Craig Bellamy, have earned a hat-trick of wins. They have scored eight goals in […]

Evan Hoyt was beaten by the No1 seed Fred Gil in the quarter-finals of the ITF Portugal F16 Futures tournament this week. The Welsh No 1 was seeded at No 8 for the competition in Lisbon, but found the home favourite too strong as he went down 6-4, 6-4. He beat Portugal’s Bernardo Saraiva (6-3, 6-3) and Chile’s Michel Vernier (6-4, 1-6, 6-4) to reach the last eight.

Porthmadog have made an outstanding start to the 2018-19 Huws Gray Alliance season with three wins from three fixtures. Bangor City are the leaders on nine points, while Porthmadog and Airbus Broughton are both on the same total with two games in hand. Porthmadog won 2-1 against Bangor City at Nantporth thanks to goals from […]

Celtic Dragons have charged Kiwi coach Tania Hoffman with the task of dragging the Welsh franchise off the bottom of the Vitality Superleague in 2019. And with a break with tradition at Welsh Netball, who own and run the team, she will only coach the Superleague team and not be involved with Wales. All her predecessors – Melissa Hyndman, Trish Wilcox and Julie Hoornweg – had to double up with coaching the national side as well.

Newports’ Phil Pratt will be hoping he can emulate Clive Sullivan’s feat of captaining a British team to a world title when he leads the GB Men’s Wheelchair Basketball side into the final of the World Championships in Hamburg today. Sullivan, the great Hull wing, scored the try in the final game of the 1972 Rugby League World Cup that earned Great Britain the trophy. Now, 46 years on, another Welshman is in charge of a British team hoping to bring home the silverware.

Andrew Lord will take his time finding a replacement for Tom Parisi, the fast and furious defenceman who arrived in Cardiff this week and left three days later. Devils head coach Lord will assess what is needed, look at all options and make his move at the right time. There is no question that Cardiff […]

Merthyr Town are aiming for a Bank Holiday Bonanza when they play two Southern League Premier fixtures in three days. The Martyrs travel to play Farnborough on Saturday before entertaining Frome Town at the MetCoaches Stadium on Monday (both 3pm). Manager Gavin Williams and his team are third in the table after three fixtures, unbeaten […]