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.

Bradley Roberts has targeted a place in Wales’ autumn squad and is adamant the Dragons can go from strength to strength this season. The 26-year-old hooker – who came off the bench as the Dragons lost 20-19 at home to the Sharks on Saturday – has enjoyed a rise that has been nothing short of remarkable. Just two years ago, Roberts was playing semi-professional rugby for a club called Rainey Old Boys, who are based in the Londonderry town of Magherfafelt in Northern Ireland, before earning a professional contract with Ulster.

Ashton Hewitt has revealed how the light touch of head coach Dai Flanagan has revitalized the Dragons. The Rodney Parade wing was part of a squad that went from the depths of a 44-6 hammering away to Edinburgh on the opening weekend of the United Rugby Championship, to the joys of a first home win in 17 months against Munster. Now, comes the acid test of backing up last week’s win, when Hewitt and his teammates host South Africa’s Sharks on Saturday night in a match that is live on S4C.

The build-up to the battle of Cardiff’s two university rugby teams at the Arms Park on Wednesday 5 October intensified as both Joe Cowell’s Cardiff Met team and Luke Pollock’s Cardiff University side got off to winning starts in the BUCS Super Rugby competition. The Met stars had to come from behind at St Helen’s before they avenged their home defeat to Swansea University in last season’s competition, eventually triumphing 42-30 in front of a huge crowd, while Pollock’s men snatched victory at the death with a late try at Bath, winning 22-21. It means their derby night out at the Arms Park looks set to be a thriller.

BUCS Super Rugby is set to return with a bang this week with the opening two rounds featuring two classic Welsh derbies. Wednesday night will see Swansea University host last season’s semi-finalists Cardiff Met at St Helen’s. A week later it will be the battle of the Welsh capital institutions, when Cardiff Met host Cardiff University at the Arms Park.

Wales Physical Disability Rugby League head coach Craig Fisher says his squad is ready to make its mark at the upcoming PDRL World Cup. Fisher has named a 15-player squad for the tournament which takes place in Warrington from Sunday 23 October.