Next week will be a crucial one for Wales as they travel to Austria on October 6th before facing Georgia at the Cardiff City Stadium on October 9 in World Cup qualifiers. Dai Sport columnist Ross Tyson looks ahead. It is only games two and three of a two-year qualifying campaign, but in what is expected to be a hotly contested group also featuring the Republic of Ireland and Serbia, these games carry significant importance.

Aaron Ramsey will again be absent when Wales continue their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign against Austria and Georgia next week. The Arsenal midfielder has been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury during his club’s opening Premier League game last month.

Aaron Ramsey is expected to be missing from the list when Wales manager Chris Coleman names his latest squad on Thursday. The Arsenal midfielder has not played since the opening week of the season because of a hamstring strain.

Warren Feeney has been sacked as manager of Newport County, the League Two club have confirmed. The former Northern Ireland international joined the Exiles as assistant manager to John Sheridan in October 2015, before taking over in January this year and preserved the club’s status in the division.

Olympic silver medal winner James Davies has set his sights on a new podium – the platform of Test match rugby for Wales this autumn. The Scarlets flanker has played three matches for his region since returning from his sevens adventure in Rio de Janeiro with Great Britain.

Paul Trollope admits the pressure on him is growing after Cardiff City’s revival was punctured before it had really begun. Trollope conceded injuries are not a vaild excuse for slipping back into the relegation zone after their 2-0 home defeat to Derby County on Tuesday night.

Chaz Davies has set his sights on a milestone World Superbikes victory in France this weekend as he looks to prolong the title battle. The Knighton-born rider’s victory at the last round in Germany took his season’s win tally to five – equalling the best he set in 2015.

Rickie Lambert can turn Cardiff City’s first away victory of the season into a sustained revival, according to former Championship manager Ian Holloway. Lambert scored his first goals for almost a year to guide the Bluebirds to their 2-1 victory at Rotherham last weekend.

Welsh golfer David Boote earned a top 10 finish at the World Amateur Team Championships, lifting his Wales team into 16th place in the event won by Australia US Amateur quarter-finalist Boote finished strongly with rounds of 68 and 67 over the weekend to lift himself to 9th among the world’s top amateur golfers, with an overall score of nine under at the Eisenhower Trophy held in Mexico.

RICKIE LAMBERT is confident he will bag the goals to fire Cardiff City up the Championship table after opening his Bluebirds account. The ex-England striker’s double in the 2-1 comeback win at Rotherham United on Saturday lifted City off the bottom.

Swansea City’s long-serving coach Alan Curtis has led the club’s tributes to Mel Charles, the former Wales international who died on Saturday, aged 81. The younger brother of John Charles, Mel was part of the 1958 Wales World Cup squad that reached the tournament quarter-finals.

England kept their record of winning the Seniors Home Internationals every time it has been held in Wales, though the home team enjoyed one of their best ever finishes in second. It came down to a winner-takes-all clash between England and Wales on the final day at Machynys golf club in Llanelli, most of the contests were close for a long time before the English team finished strongly to take the title.

Merthyr took the honours in the Valleys battle of the Welsh Premiership at the weekend when they beat Pontypridd 39-21 on the new artificial pitch at Sardis Road. Geraint Powell of The VietGwent blog was there to see history in the making.

Danny Wilson says he would have leapt at the offer of an unbeaten start to the Cardiff Blues’ Guinness Pro 12 campaign – despite dismissing their latest display as “average”. The Blues head coach saw his team secure their second place in the table after an edgy 23-21 victory in Italy against Zebre on Saturday.

Francesco Guidolin insists no news is good news as he battles to avoid an abrupt end to his tenure as Swansea City manager. The Italian says he has not heard from the club’s board of directors, either to reassure him of his position – or to discuss the beginning of the end.

Rickie Lambert still has the eye of the tiger according to Cardiff City manager Paul Trollope. Former England striker Lambert scored his first goals for the club – and his first for 11 months – as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Rotherham on Saturday.

There’s trouble at the mills of both Swansea City and Cardiff City. The question is can their managers calm matters, or will they soon be ground into the dust? Dai Sport columnist Ross Tyson offers a guide.

Robert Croft has questioned his Glamorgan team’s character after their season finished on a low with another defeat. The county’s head coach was unhappy with a batting collapse on Thursday during which they lost six wickets for just 10 runs to hand Leicestershire victory.

Alun Wyn Jones has gone from chubby teenager to one of the greats of Welsh rugby, according to his Ospreys coach Steve Tandy. Jones will make his 200th appearance for the Ospreys on Friday night, a landmark the region hope to celebrate by making it four victories from four Guinness Pro 12 matches when they face Leinster in Dublin.

Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac has conceded they are already facing a crunch fixture in the Guinness Pro 12 just four weeks into the new season. The Scarlets are without a single point, having already lost three matches and could find themselves in deeper trouble if they lose at home to champions Connacht on Saturday night.