Wayne Pivac is poised to be confirmed as Warren Gatland’s successor as Wales coach. Pivac has been a long-standing favourite to take over from his fellow New Zealander after next year’s World Cup, having moved ahead of another Kiwi, Dave Rennie. But the Welsh Rugby Union have called a press conference for Monday afternoon, where it is anticipated Pivac will be unveiled as the man to replace Gatland in just over a year.

There was some great middle distance running at the 71st Welsh School’s Athletics Championships in Cardiff, with north Walian Samia Jones taking pride of place. Jones set a Welsh record as she eclipsed fellow north Walian Cari Hughes’ 2013 mark of 4.33.33 in the Junior Girls 1500 metres. The Syr Hugh Owen pupil also wrote Team Wales skipper Non Stanford out of the record books as she bettered her 15-year-old championship best performance of 4.35.61 as she strode to victory in 4:33.15. Her incredible solo effort saw her finish 26 seconds clear of Radyr’s Alannah Hill. There was also a championship best performance in the Junior Boys 1500 as Jacob Reynolds just managed to crack elder brother Ben’s winning time last year as the Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni star picked up his latest title in 14:13.94, beating Ben’s winning time of 4:14.18 last year.

Cory Allen is desperately trying to shed some of his “15-a-side puppy fat” in order to get ready for the World Cup Sevens in San Francisco later this month. The Ospreys centre, who marked his debut in the 15-a-side World Cup with a hat-trick in Wales’ win over Uruguay in 2015, has joined former Cardiff Blues team-mate Lloyd Williams and Dragons wing Jared Rosser in dropping down to the small-sided game to boost Welsh chances in the USA. Allen was thrown in at the deep end this week in the third round of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens tournament in Exeter, but stood up to the test by helping Wales to top their pool with wins over Portugal, Germany and Spain on Day 1.

Valley Cougars extended their lead at the top of the Welsh Premier League table after a remarkable comeback at Torfaen Tigers. Attacking uphill in the second half, the Cougars scored 24 unanswered points after being 24-14 down early in the second half.

Geraint Thomas emerged unscathed from a ‘bonkers’ opening stage of the Tour de France. The Cardiff-born rider finished in the same time as the stage winner as Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome made a nightmare start.

Chaz Davies made a storming start to the World Superbikes race in Italy to grab another podium finish. The Knighton-born rider blasted from seventh on the grid at Misano to fourth when the lights went out.

Melissa Courtney followed up her 5,000m silver medal at the British Championships last weekend with an appearance at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting. Courtney displayed her versatility across the distances by taking part in a world class 1500m featuring the likes of world and Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya and former world indoor 1500m champion Sifan Hassan.

Welsh athlete Ben Thomas booked his place in the 2000m steeplechase final in dramatic fashion at the European Under-18 Athletics Championships in Hungary. The Ysgol Y Strade, Llanelli, pupil was pushed into a barrier during some jostling early on in the race and came to a complete halt.

Something has to give in the British American Football league’s division two west this Sunday when the unbeaten South Wales Warriors face the equally perfect Torbay Trojans. Both teams sit at the top of the British American Football Association (BAFA) division two west table with five wins each and no losses. The Sunday, July 8 clash (2.30) at Paignton is the first of two back to back fixtures for the leading pair who will meet again at the Warriors’ home in Llanharan on July, 22 in a fixture that’s likely to decide which team takes the division title and guaranteed play-off place. 

Cycling fever will spread from the Tour de France to South Wales on Sunday as thousands of riders gear up for VELOTHON Wales. While Welshmen Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe battle it out for the ultimate accolade, nearly 9,000 amateur riders will be taking on their own cycling challenge up the Tumble and Caerphilly Mountain.

Aron Gunnarsson has committed to playing Premier League football for Cardiff City in 2018-19. ‘Gunnar’ has been on duty with Iceland during the World Cup finals in Russia, but he has verbally agreed a new contract with the Bluebirds. “Aron wants to repay the club and Vincent Tan for the support he’s had here over […]

The Tour de France will be tracked over the next three weeks by millions of cycling fans around the globe, but nobody will be taking a keener interest on the epic race than the pupils of Whitchurch High School in Cardiff. They will be pinning their hopes on Geraint Thomas, one of their many top-flight sporting alumni, adding to his collection of Yellow Jerseys and maybe, just maybe, challenging his Team Sky teammate Chris Froome for the overall prize. The tension and excitement has been rising at the school, although for one member of staff it will be a question of just sitting back and taking it all in his stride.

Cardiff Devils hold their fourth annual Calgary summit on Sunday. Head coach Andrew Lord and managing director Todd Kelman are meeting up with owners Steve King, Kelly Hughes, Brian Parker and Craig Shoshtak. The group will announce four more signings live from the summit at 10pm on Sunday (UK Time, 3pm Calgary time). Devils will […]

Paul John is a Welsh coach with World Cup glory on his rugby curriculum vitae. The former scrum-half won 10 Test caps for his country and became a Pontypridd legend for his exploits at Sardis Road during a phenomenal playing career. John has since gone on to become a fine coach, working with Pontypridd, Cardiff Blues and having a long stint in charge of Wales Sevens before moving on to his current role with Hong Kong Sevens.

Three Welshmen are still heavily involved in the chase for World Cup glory. They are former Cardiff City players Richard Evans and goalkeeper Martyn Margetson plus Rhys Long, an ex-head of performance analysis for the Welsh Rugby Union. Evans is working closely with Belgium manager Roberto Martinez and assistant Thierry Henry as they prepare for […]

Graham Potter hopes Martin Olsson and Kristoff Nordfeldt are coming home from the World Cup this weekend – rather than England. The Swansea City manager spent seven years in Sweden, had two kids in his adopted country, has a Swedish assistant coach at the Liberty Stadium in recently appointed Bjorn Hamberg, as well as defender Olsson and goalkeeper Nordfeldt in the Scandinavians’ squad. But the Solihull-born boss insists there are no divided loyalities as he looks forward to Saturday’s quarter-final in Russia.

Newly crowned British discus champion Brett Morse has revealed he considered quitting athletics after missing out on a place in the Welsh team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Instead, he decided to throw all his efforts into trying to get back to the level which saw him compete at the 2012 Olympics at the London Stadium.

In a disappointing night for Welsh Premier League clubs, Bala Town and Cefn Druids were both eliminated from the UEFA Europa League preliminary round. Bala suffered an aggregate defeat to San Marino outfit Tre Fiori whilst Cefn Druids were narrowly beaten over two legs by Lithuania’s FK Trakai. Bala returned to winning ways on home […]

Swansea City are keen to sign former Cardiff City defender Tom James from Yeovil to strengthen their defensive options ahead of their return to the Championship. The former Wales U19 right-back has been pinpointed by new manager Graham Potter as a player who could challenge last season’s first choice Martin Olsson, currently preparing with Sweden for a World Cup quarter-final against England.

Dai Greene is very much back in the big time after his amazing comeback win at the British Championships in Birmingham last weekend earned him a second ticket to a major event. Greene’s victory over Jack Green was good enough to back up his qualifying times and earn him selection for the European Championships in Berlin. His win has also given him the chance to compete on home soil at the Athletics World Cup. It will mean a return to the London Stadium where he captained the British athletics team at the London Olympics in 2012 and finished an agonising fourth in both the 400m hurdles, the event in which he was the reigning world champion, and the 4 x 400m relay.