Matthew Maynard is back at Glamorgan. The county’s former captain and director of cricket has been appointed as a consultant batting coach. Maynard, 51, was in charge at Somerset last season, but stood down from the job at the end of the campaign after three years at the helm.

Wales open their autumn Test series against Australia this week and the statistical omens are not good. Geraint Powell says the two nations may be moving closer together off the field, but the divide between them on it is likely to be maintained. On Saturday, the Wallabies will play Wales for the 14th time during the Warren Gatland era, winning every match since an initial defeat in November 2008. Australian and Welsh rugby have, historically, been worlds apart in a cultural sense. 

Elinor Barker’s relentless pursuit of medals will continue at the Manchester Velodrome this weekend in the second round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup. It was silver in the Madison with Emily Nelson last weekend in Poland in the first of the five event series and she will be hoping to go one better on what is effectively her home track on 10-12 November in front of a packed house. Barker and Nelson finished in the runner-up spot behind Belgian’s reigning world champions, Jolien D’Hoore and Lotte Kopecky. Both pairs fought hard for the victory, with the GB duo finishing on 23 points to Belgium’s 29 with the Italians third.

Manager Michael Flynn made 10 changes to his Newport County starting line-up for their Checkatrade Trophy tie against Cheltenham Town at Rodney Parade. Academy players Tom Hillman, Evan Press and Lewis Collins all made their first appearances at first team level, while Owen Taylor went on from the bench. Flynn gave his fringe players their […]

The Dragons have announced the signing of Rhodri Williams from Bristol, with the promise of more new players to follow. Robin Davey says head coach Bernard Jackman will continue to target Welsh exiles as part of a major squad overhaul. This is just the start. Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman’s signing of scrum half Rhodri Williams and the possible addition of Jordan Williams and Ryan Bevington heralds the beginning of a recruitment drive. Jackman, with the backing of the Welsh Rugby Union after their Rodney Parade takeover, pledged his new role would be a three-year process.

Swim Wales have announced their National Squads for 2017/18 and included 125 athletes from Senior Elite down to Skills Academy. National Performance Director Ross Nicholas has nine top-flight swimmers in his Senior Elite group, led by double Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin, and there are eight up and coming hopefuls in the Elite Development squad. “We are delighted to announce the selection of 125 athletes across our National Squad Performance Pathway for the 2017/18 season and look forward to supporting this group of athletes in fulfilling their potential as performance swimmers,” said Nicholas.

Scarlets flanker John Barclay has blown a huge hole in rugby’s concussion testing system by revealing he could have played when he knew he still had symptoms. The Scotland captain has given a detailed account of how he passed all the medical tests following a concussion injury, but judged he was still not fit. Barclay – who will make his full comeback when he skippers the Scots against Samoa at Murrayfield this weekend – was knocked unconscious playing for his region against Edinburgh on September 23.

Wales will name some new faces to face Australia on Saturday, but there will be few surprises, says Robin Davey, who also expects a very familiar outcome in favour of the Wallabies. Wales are hoping it’ll be lucky 13 when they take on perennial opponents Australia and get their autumn series off to a much-needed winning start at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. The countdown to the 2019 World Cup really does start now and that is reflected in the number of new, and relatively new, players head coach Warren Gatland has chosen in his squad.

Dragons flanker Ollie Griffiths was ruled out for up to two months after breaking his jaw in the Challenge Cup clash with Russian side Enisei-STM last month, but the player cited for his role in the injury picked up a nine week playing ban. Now Dmitrii Gerasimov has lodged an appeal against the suspension imposed on him by an independent Disciplinary Committee. The foul play was referred to tournament organisers EPCR by the citing officer at the Round 2 match at the Slava Stadium, Moscow on 21 October, 2017.

Cardiff Devils have eased into form with four successive wins, but head coach Andrew Lord insists: “There is far more to come yet.” Sean Bentivoglio, Matt Pope and man of the match Andrew Hotham scored for Devils in their 3-2 win against Sheffield Steelers in their last game and Lord says: “We’re still not where […]

Merthyr Town are hoping big striker Ryan Prosser will be ready for a return to action soon after their enforced break from fixtures. The Martyrs have had two fixtures postponed, don’t have a match until they travel to Chesham United on Saturday, November 18 and Prosser has been making progress in his rehabilitation. He hasn’t […]

After a disappointing home defeat that cost top spot in the Championship standings the previous week, Penarth headed off on their longest away trip of the season so far determined to rediscover their spark and rocket back up the league.

Welsh Rugby Union chairman Gareth Davies is grappling with reform of the game and has already declared an intention to slim down a bloated system. But Geraint Powell argues it’s how the various parts of that system fit together that really counts. Last month, I looked at the question of Welsh Rugby Union governance modernisation (http://www.dai-sport.com/welsh-rugby-reform-needs-unity-not-war-money-men-blazers/), particularly the need to build aligned devolved/decentralised regional board structures to help underpin the WRU board and to replace the outdated and non-aligned WRU districts system. This will facilitate the member clubs electing a slimmed down strategic main WRU board based on director skill-sets in business as well as rugby. 

On Friday 3rd November at 6.11pm, Welshman Paul Guest and Aaron Rolph from Cumbria crossed over the border from Bulgaria to Greece on their bicycles – their 14th country in seven days, having cycled a total ddistance of over 1800kms.

Experienced striker Paul Hayes is ruled out of Newport County’s home match against Cheltenham tonight (Tuesday) and won’t be able to make his debut until the new year. Hayes, 34, has scored 145 goals in 598 first team appearance during a career which took him to 11 clubs. He played in all three divisions of […]

Hot shots Ben Llewellin and Mike Wixey certainly got their eye in at next year’s Commonwealth Games shooting venue in Brisbane as they both captured medals at the test event. Llewellin led the way with his gold in the Men’s Skeet at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships, coming from 11th in qualification to beat England’s Jack Fairclough and Australia’s Paul Adams to the title with a world record equalling total of 59/60. That equalled his joint world record set in taking the silver medal at the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi last month. Missing only one target, he tied with Italy’s Riccardo Filippelli on that occasion and eventually lost in a sudden death shoot-off.

Shaun Edwards has admitted he is glad Israel Folau will not be facing Wales on Saturday, but insists the green and gold Wallabies have riches elsewhere. When Wales open their autumn series at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, the opposition’s most potent match-winner will be back in Australia, having decided to sit out the tour in order to rest mind and body. Folau has been central to the Aussies’ resurgent year, having scored 12 tries in his last 10 Tests and Wales defence coach Edwards has not tried to mask his relief that the 28-year-old full-back will be absent.

Nev Powell returns to former club Bangor City tonight with his Aberystwyth side looking to extend their run of form (7.45). Powell had led Bangor to the league championship as well as three Welsh Cup successes during his nine year tenure, before being unexpectedly dismissed at the start of last season. Powell returned to management […]

Wales have rocketed up the official World Hockey Rankings following their heroics at the EuroHockey Championships and both the men’s and women’s teams are now sitting in high enough positions to be invited to the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The target for both teams was to be ranked in the Top 10 in the Commonwealth and the men’s team climbed into 24th place overall in the world thanks to their runners-up spot in Glasgow in the EuroHockey 11 Championships two months ago to reach that goal. That achievement meant they went up eight places in the world – the biggest rise of any nation – and took them ahead of nearest rivals for the final Commonwealth Games qualification spot, Bangladesh (30th) and Trinidad & Tobago (31st).

Mid Wales racing driver Ben Power was the overall winner of the final day’s races in the MRF National Legends Car Championship at Brands Hatch, but it wasn’t quite enough to gain the championship title.