There is a new buoyancy in and around netball in Wales. Australian coach Julie Hoornweg has taken charge of the Welsh team ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Celtic Dragons, who have earned their first Vitality Netball Superleague victory. Dragons defeated Surrey Storm 55-50 at the Wales Sport National Centre. Goalshooter Chelsea Lewis, who plays […]

Wales and Ospreys wing Eli Walker has retired from rugby at the age of 25 after failing to recover from a back injury. Walker burst on to the regional scene as a teenager as quickly established himself as one of the most exciting runners in the Welsh game. But he has spent the last year trying to return to fitness after surgery, but has opted to call it a day after taking the advice from medical specialists.

Wales Rugby League chuef Chris Thair has hailed under 23 side’s display at the Commonwealth Championships in Australia. The squad finished sixth out of the eight teams competing but did beat England in the event which was a demonstration sport.

Dai Greene’s remarkable renaissance continued in South Africa as he won the first Athletix Grand Prix race of the season in Ruimsig, South Africa to rocket to No.3 in this year’s 400m hurdles world rankings. On Tuesday night the former Commonwealth, European and World champion ran his fastest time in five years to achieve the required standard to take up his place in Team Wales for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Australia. It was his second race in low key meetings in Potchefstroom, but on his return to the big stage on the outskirts of Johannesburg, where he went to try to crack the 49.50 sec barrier he needed to break to go to the Gold Coast, he proved he is back to full race fitness.

A veteran striker who killed off Cardiff City’s Premier League hopes eight years ago and a former Bluebirds first team coach are planning a Welsh trophy triumph. Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Bangor City’s player/assistant manager, played and scored for Blackpool in their 3-2 Championship play-off final win against Cardiff at Wembley Stadium in 2010. The Liverpool-born forward, […]

It was silver for Elinor Barker and her British teammates in the women’s team pursuit final as they were overpowered at the World Championships in Holland by a supercharged United States quartet. The Americans came storming through in the final third to register a convincing win and leave Britain without gold in their specialist event since 2014.

Storm Emma has struck a blow in Cardiff Bay – and forced another Storm to stay away. Cardiff Devils were scheduled to play Manchester Storm in a crucial Elite League fixture on Friday, but that clash has been postponed. The match was a 3,000-plus sell-out, but the bad weather across Britain means it cannot go […]

The WRU have confirmed Wales are to play South Africa in the USA this summer. Twm Owen says it’s an exercise in promotion that suits all parties, but argues it will be a tough gig to sell. Games against southern hemisphere opposition haven’t been in short supply for Wales in recent years, so perhaps playing South Africa in Washington DC should be a welcome twist. The US mission was tied up at the back end of last year but formally announced at the South African embassy in the American capital this week by Carwyn Jones and South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu. 

Welsh swimmers Daniel Jervis and Kathryn Greenslade gave themselves a big boost ahead of the Commonwealth Games as they picked up British titles on the opening day of the Edinburgh International meeting. Jervis, a bronze medalist at the last Games in Glasgow, went into the 1500 metres as the fastest in the field and was too good for everyone as he won the title in commanding fashion, leaving Spanish Olympian Miguel Duran trailing almost 14 seconds in his wake. Jervis took gold in 15:01.87. The 22-year-old took the bronze in 2014 in a then life time best of 14:55.33, but improved that time in winning the British title in Sheffield last year in 14:51.48.

Non Stanford says she will fulfill her childhood dream when she leads Wales to the Commonwealth Games next month. The former World Triathlon champion has been named as the Team Wales captain for the Games in Australia next month. Stanford had to pull out of the 2014 Games in Glasgow due to a stress fracture in her left ankle. She had been crowned ITU World Triathlon champion in 2013.

Cardiff Devils spent St David’s Day celebrating life in Wales. Coach Andrew Lord and his players trained at Ice Arena Wales before doing their best to sing the Welsh national anthem. The Devils roster, mainly Canadians, includes one Welshman – Cardiff-born Matthew Myers – plus Bryce Reddick (USA), Craig Moore (Scotland), Toms Rutkis (Latvia) and […]

Carlos Carvalhal has dismissed the notion that Swansea City are back under pressure and insisted: “Pressure? That’s the situation for people in Syria and Afghanistan.” The Swans manager is hoping his club’s home game against West Ham on Saturday beats the freeze and his players beat West Ham, who are three points above them in the Premier League table. Carvalhal’s side lost their 10-game unbeaten run against Brighton last weekend and in doing so they slipped back into the bottom three.

Matt Connolly has a crucial role to play during Cardiff City’s Championship run-in. The Bluebirds have 12 fixtures to play and manager Neil Warnock will turn to the experienced Connolly more and more. Sol Bamba, Sean Morrison and Bruno Manga have played starring roles for City this season, but none of them have Connolly’s Championship […]

The wintry weather has forced this Sunday’s Newtown-based Grooms Garage Mid Wales Stages, round two of the 2018 Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship, to be postponed – although the organisers hope to run the event later in the year.

Reigning Commonwealth Games champions Jazz Carlin and Georgia Davies might be missing, but there will still be a big Welsh contingent of Gold Coast-bound swimmers at the Edinburgh International Swim Meet starting on Thursday (1 March). The event incorporates 32 British Swimming Championship titles and will give the athletes a chance to hone their race skills ahead of April’s Commonwealth Games. There will be plenty of world class swimmers in action. Spain’s Olympic champion Mireia Belmonte and a strong German team, including Olympian’s Lisa Graf, Christian Diener and Damian Wierling, will be joining some of the best of British in Olympic and world champion Adam Peaty, world champion James Guy and Olympic medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor.

With the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast only 34 days away, today Hockey Wales and Team Wales have revealed the 36 athletes that will represent Team Wales down under in April where they will go up against some of the top nations in World hockey. Following a period of unprecedented results in Welsh hockey, qualification for the Gold Coast was confirmed in December last year and the goal of having both teams represent Wales at consecutive games was achieved.

Elinor Barker will attempt to add to her world titles in Appeldoorn, in the Netherlands this week when she joins 21 other British riders in chasing a coveted rainbow jersey. The Olympic champion managed to clinch the Points title at last year’s worlds in Hong Kong and will be a strong favourite to win it again after another impressive season. She also features in the Team Pursuit squad that includes Laura Kenny, Emily Kay, Emily Nelson, Ellie Dickinson and Katie Archibald.

Wales need to shake things up in their selection for the game against Italy, argues Robin Davey, who wants Warren Gatland to bring back Rhys Patchell and a number of others following the costly Six Nations defeat to Ireland. Restore Rhys Patchell, start with George North, and give the Welsh pack some power. Those are the minimum requirements for the game against Italy at the Principality Stadium a week on Sunday. For Wales, Six Nations title hopes have disappeared after successive defeats at the hands of England and Ireland. Now, the Italy match represents an ideal opportunity for Warren Gatland and Co to experiment ahead of the more demanding game against France.

Coleg Y Cymoedd stopped their young Scarlets counterparts from Coleg Sir Gar making a clean sweep of the major Under 18 titles in Wales with a stunning 29-10 victory in the Welsh Schools & Colleges U18 League final at Sardis Road. It was a massive dose of revenge for the top junior side in the Cardiff Blues region after surrendering a huge half-time lead in last season’s final to the same side before going down to an agonising 27-23 defeat. The bad weather earned Cymoedd an unexpected ‘home’ advantage when the WRU switched the game from Bridgend’s Brewery Filed to the 4G surface in Pontypridd to ensure the game could go ahead.

Ospreys centre Ben John will take a year off from the game to recover from a series of head injuries. The 26-year-old has suffered three incidents since the start of 2017, the latest of which came on Boxing Day when he sustained an injury following an aerial collision. He has not played since and after taking medical advice has opted to take a 12-month sabbatical, despite only being ruled out by doctors for the rest of the season.