Elliot Kear has challenged his Wales team-mates to make the most of an unprecedented opportunity to put their sport on the map as they prepare to kick off their Rugby League World Cup campaign against the Cook Islands. The Bradford Bulls back is one of 13 Welsh-born players in a squad managed by the hugely-experienced […]

By Gareth James Wayne Pivac is happy with the balance of his squad for the Autumn Nations Series having selected a blend of experience and youth. The Wales head coach welcomes back experienced campaigners Leigh Halfpenny and Ken Owens from long-term injuries but has also selected five uncapped players with one eye on next year’s […]

Wales are looking for a new captain after an injured Dan Biggar was left out of the squad on Tuesday for the autumn rugby Tests. Biggar is in a knee brace after limping off during a game for his Northampton club on October 9. The club said he will be out for weeks. The fly-half was handed the captaincy this year for the Six Nations when Alun Wyn Jones remained injured, and Biggar continued on the July tour of South Africa.

Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap has admitted her players need to recover quickly from a “brutal” battering by New Zealand if they are to keep their World Cup show on the road. Wales would likely still progress to the knockout stages of the tournament , even if they lost heavily to Australia in their final Pool A match on Saturday. They have a hard-earned victory over Scotland in their opening match safely in the bag, whereas likely rivals for the final knockout spot, Fiji, are probabaly going to need to get something from their match against France.

Wales take on New Zealand’s Black Ferns on Sunday in their second pool match of the Rugby World Cup and it promises to be a tasty fixture after both nations won their opening encounter. New Zealand trailed by 17 points in the first half of their first home game against Australia, showing they are vulnerable under pressure. Unlike the Black Ferns, Wales started with a bang against Scotland with veteran fly-half Elinor Snowsill orchestrating territory with varied kicks and creating opportunities for the impressive centre Megan Webb.

Nurse Meg Webb plans to keep Wales’ World Cup ambitions looking healthy this weekend after having to spend time earlier in the year making sure she herself came back to fitness. The Wales and Bristol Bears centre – cousin to Wales and Ospreys star Rhys Webb – will be aiming to show her team have powers of recovery to withstand whatever hosts New Zealand can throw at them. It is Wales’ second match in Pool A at the tournament Down Under, following their dramatic opening victory over Scotland and although it takes place in the early hours of Sunday morning, the whole game is being replayed in full later in the day on S4C.

Scarlets prop Steff Thomas has paid tribute to former All Black Ben Franks for the form that has been keeping British Lion Wyn Jones out of the starting line-up. Thomas will be on the bench on Saturday night as the Scarlets seek their first victory of the season at home to bottom club Zebre. But for the four previous matches so far, the loose-head spot has gone to Thomas, rather than Wales international Jones, who toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions last year.

John Kear insists Wales will not be short of motivation when they begin their Rugby League World Cup campaign next week. The tournament – which starts this weekend – gives Wales four days to test the temperature of the event before they dip a toe in with their Pool D opener against the Cook Islands on Wednesday. For head coach Kear that means a few extra days to prepare his squad for a competition few will give them much hope of making a significant mark in.

Wales coach Ioan Cunningham has told his players they have nothing to lose ahead of their clash against World Cup hosts New Zealand. With one victory already in the bag, Wales are already well on their way to making the knockout stages of the tournament. But no Welsh senior team – male or female – has ever beaten New Zealand on their own soil and Cunningham has urged his players to seize the chance to be history-makers.

Rising Welsh star Immanuel Feyi-Waboso could soon be heading back to Wales as Wasps move closer to following Worcester into administration. Feyi-Waboso left Cardiff Rugby at the end of last season to join Wasps, one of a succession of highly talented Welsh teenagers to have moved to England in recent years. But after just one senior appearance in the Premiership Cup, the highly-rated 19-year-old former Wales U18s wing may soon find himself a free agent and looking around for a new club.

By Rob Carbon Alan Flowers might be in charge of the top Welsh team to date this season in BUCS Super Rugby, but he knows his Cardiff University side will have their unbeaten start to the new campaign put to the ultimate test on Wednesday night. Both of last season’s finalists are in the Welsh capital for Round […]

Finding themselves under stress back in the kitchen, Cardiff’s resilience and determination in serving up a win over the Scarlets last weekend pleased Dai Young – but the club’s director of rugby knows there are still plenty of issues front of house. A second victory of the season moved Cardiff up to 10th in the URC table and lifted some of the clouds that had gathered over the Arms Park after a stormy few days. But the allegations of poor behaviour levelled at some players might not have raised so many hackles among supporters had they come after relative success on the field.

Keira Bevan will continue to think of the green, green grass of home as she progresses with Wales at the Rugby World Cup. With one under their belts, thanks to her dramatic late penalty against Scotland, Bevan and her teammates are now turning their attention to their next Pool A game against hosts New Zealand on Sunday. If she gets some goal-kicking opportunities again then the scrum-half will once more imagine she is back home on the practice field.

Dwayne Peel has promised the weekend’s Welsh derby between his Scarlets side and Cardiff will be “edgy” with both teams desperate to avoid another defeat. The Scarlets head coach has made six changes to his starting XV as the west Walians go in search of their first win of the season. Peel’s side will be smarting after a disappointing defeat in Treviso last Saturday but have a Cardiff Rugby side who are looking to set the record straight standing in their way, and one disrupted by an ongoing investigation into player behaviour in a pub last Saturday night, following a match they had lost.

Kayleigh Powell plans to get a big kick out of her Rugby World Cup debut – and one of those she will thank is Ospreys star Stephen Myler. Powell is set to be named at full-back in the Wales team that start their Pool A campaign against Scotland in Whangarei, New Zealand on Sunday. It will be the 23-year-old’s first experience of the tournament and an early opportunity to prove her new full-time professional status has yielded reward.

By Rob Carbon About 18 months ago Elinor Snowsill was told by one of her then Welsh coaches he didn’t think she would make the World Cup in New Zealand this month. The 33-year-old contemplated retirement, but battled on regardless. This weekend she is set to add to her 67 caps at her fourth global tournament and remains […]

By Graham Thomas Jason Strange has no doubts the clubs in the Indigo Premiership are punching above their weight and insists: “The league is a minor miracle.” Strange – who recently signed off his summer stint on the coaching staff of St. Helens by helping them rule rugby league’s Super League for the fourth successive […]

By Paul Jones Rugby authorities have been told they should look to eliminate contact training and reduce rather than expand the global calendar after a study revealed concerning evidence of considerably increased risk of motor neurone disease among former players. A study led by the University of Glasgow looking at former Scotland internationals – from […]

Cardiff Met have been forced to put up the ‘Sold Out’ signs a day ahead of their BUCS Super Rugby ‘Cardiff Clash’ with their noisy-neighbours Cardiff University on Wednesday, 5 October. More than 4,000 tickets were sold in the space of 10 days for the derby game at the Arms Park, putting the fixture on a par with attendances at the Dragons and Ospreys so far this season. Last season, the two Welsh capital universities clashed three times, with a mere five points splitting the two teams across the three fixtures.

Elliot Kear will emulate Whitchurch High School classmate Sam Warburton by leading Wales at the Rugby League World Cup. Kear heads a 24-strong squad named by men’s head coach, John Kear, for the tournament in England – nothing up another success for the Cardiff school.