By Rob Carbon Nigel Walker insists he can make a difference and believes there is “a sense of change in the air on a number of fronts” as he begins his role as performance director of the Welsh Rugby Union. As a flying wing for both his club, Cardiff, and country, he won 17 Welsh caps in a five year rugby sojourn that was bolted onto an earlier athletics career in which he attend all the major global championships as one of Britain’s finest 110 metre hurdlers. Having been one of many black British athletics’ internationals during his time on the track, his was more or less a lone black face in the Welsh rugby teams between 1993-1998. Twice he played with the Maori-born Hemi Taylor and once with Colin Charvis.

Gareth Anscombe admitted he still has some way to go before he is back to his best as the countdown begins to Wales’ autumn internationals. Anscombe kicked all of the Ospreys’ points – as they beat Cardiff 18-14 – in only his second competitive game back from a two-year injury lay-off. It made two wins from two in this season’s United Rugby Championship for the Ospreys and more encouraging progress from their Wales No.10.

The Dragons will need to overturn recent history and defy the odds if they are to take down Leinster when the champions visit Rodney Parade on Sunday. But full-back Josh Lewis belives a mix of new faces and old heads can combine for a shock result, as he tells Graham Thomas. Josh Lewis believes the Jamie Roberts factor can lift the Dragons to a shock victory over champions Leinster at Rodney Parade on Sunday. The biggest task of the weekend falls to Dean Ryan’s men who become the first of the Welsh regions to attempt to put a spoke in the Leinster machine in the new United Rugby Championship.

By David Williams Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel is looking forward to the challenge of taking on a new opponent when his team face the Emirates Lions on Friday night. South African outfit Lions are the first of the four United Rugby Championship sides from the Rainbow Nation to arrive in Wales this season. They […]

By Rob Carbon Scott Williams is hopeful of putting three years of injury hell behind him by firing the Scarlets to success this season.  The 30-year-old has been capped 58 times by Wales and prior to injury, he was considered one of the best centres in European rugby.  His move to the Ospreys in 2018 was plagued by injuries, but now he’s back at the Scarlets and keen to prove he still has what it takes to perform at the highest level. 

By Rob Carbon Rugby will return with a resounding bang at the Welsh universities this week when the BUCS Super Rugby competition kicks off after an 18 month enforced break. There are three Welsh teams in the top-flight and Cardiff Met have the honour of welcoming the reigning champions, Durham, to Cyncoed for their opening game on Wednesday night (6.30pm). Cardiff University host Northumbria and Swansea University welcome Exeter, who were champions in 2018 and finished runners-up in 2019. They will arrive in Wales having warmed-up with a 103-0 win over Sidmouth.

Wales Women have turned again to Geraint Lewis to get them out of a fix after announcing he would jointly lead their team into a three-Test autumn series. Former Wales flanker Lewis will take charge of the national team, alongside Ioan Cunningham, for their matches against Japan, South Africa and Canada It is the second time the Welsh Rugby Union have called Lewis in an emergency. He was first summoned to step in after the mysterious departure of Rowland Phillips in 2019 and now he has been asked to steer the ship again following the bizarre resignation of Warren Abrahams this summer after just nine months in the job.

By Steffan Thomas Willis Halaholo is desperate to represent Wales at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and believes Cardiff’s no excuse culture can help him achieve his goals. After excelling at regional level for the past four seasons Halaholo finally made his Wales debut in February’s Six Nations win against Scotland and having played an […]

Scott Williams has been tipped to recapture the form which originally made him a star on the international stage now he has rejoined the Scarlets. The 58-times capped Wales centre left the Scarlets three years ago to join the Ospreys, but his time at the Liberty Stadium was plagued by injuries. But he’s now returned home to Llanelli, and new Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel is confident he can get the best out of the 30-year-old.

Gareth Anscombe has come through the mental and well as the physical tests and is ready for his competitive comeback, according to Ospreys coach Toby Booth. The Wales fly-half will line up at No.10 for the Ospreys in their opening United Rugby Championship clash when they make a derby trip to Rodney Parade to face the Dragons on Sunday. Anscombe, Tomas Francis and promising young flanker Jac Morgan will all make their competitive Ospreys debuts.

When Dwayne Peel helped the Scarlets win the Celtic League title in 2004, Kieran Hardy was just a small face in the ground. Now, Peel is at the helm for their URC opener at Edinburgh on Saturday and scrum-half Hardy is hoping to absorb plenty of his coach’s know-how as he tells Graham Thomas. Kieran Hardy believes his boyhood hero Dwayne Peel can be the guiding light that enables him to hold onto the Wales No.9 shirt this season. Scarlets scrum-half Hardy was just eight-years-old when his father took him to Stradey Park to see Peel in his pomp clinch the old Celtic League title back in 2004.

By Rob Carbon Newly appointed Cardiff Rugby captain Josh Turnbull is set to realising a teenage ambition of playing in one of the world’s most exciting rugby tournaments when he leads his side into the United Rugby Championship. The Wales back-row man believes the expanded, 16-team competition, which will include the top South African franchises […]

The Welsh Rugby Union’s net debt has increased to £114.4million but the group was able to record a modest profit before tax of £400,000 in its financial results for the year ending June 30, 2021. With the coronavirus pandemic still in full force, the story of its impact can be found in WRU’s 2021 Annual Report published on Thursday. Turnover was down to £58.1m from £79.9m in 2020 while the £17.2m increase in the group’s bank debut highlights the necessary measures taken to survive the implications of Covid-19 on sport in the country.

By Rob Carbon Tomas Francis was the biggest arrival in Welsh rugby this summer in every sense of the word. He is now looking forward to getting his Ospreys career underway and is impressed with how his new team have performed under coach Toby Booth. The Ospreys almost went out of existence in 2019 when a merger with bitter rivals Scarlets was proposed.

Jonathan Davies may look one of the coolest rugby players on and off the field, but anyone not pulling their weight for the Scarlets may soon feel a fiery blast from the region’s new captain. The 33-year-old, who has won 91 caps for Wales, has replaced Ken Owens, who has led the region as Scarlets skipper for the past seven seasons. Davies often looks one of the calmest players around but insists: “I can be quite hot-headed when I need to be.

Cardiff Rugby and Scarlets look set to play their first away games against the new South African franchises in the new United Rugby Championship in Italy. With South Africa still appearing on the ‘red list’ of countries during the Covid pandemic, if the two regions went there to play they would be subject to 10 days in managed quarantine on their return. That would mean they would be unable to fulfil their first round fixtures in the Heineken Champions Cup, which take place on the weekend of 10/11/12 December.

Scott Quinnell will be joining Gabby Logan as one of the new faces of BBC Wales’ Scrum V programme after the controversial axing of Phil Steele Former Wales and Lions star Quinnell – who has been a regular part of Sky Sports’ rugby coverage for over a dozen years – will step into Steele’s former role as pitchside reporter. The move is part of BBC Wales’ strategy to throw more money at building a higher profile, celebrity  presentation team in a bid to attract more viewers.

Australia have confirmed they are coming to Cardiff to play Wales on November 20 – and the magical Quade Cooper could be running their show. The Welsh Rugby Union had already announced the clash as one of their four autumn Tests, but the Aussies had not been able to rubberstamp the fixture because of ongoing travel restrictions in their homeland due to Covid-19. But the Wallabies have now confirmed they are able to undergo a four-match tour that will see Tests against Japan, England, Scotland and Wales.

Tributes have poured in for former Cardiff Rugby back-row forward Owain Williams who has passed away at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer. Williams made 221 first-team appearances for Cardiff and established himself as a hugely popular figure at Cardiff Arms Park in a fine playing career. He also won one cap for Wales against Namibia in June 1990.

Gabby Logan is set to be the marquee signing for BBC Wales’ coverage of the new United Rugby Championship season when it begins on September 24. The URC – formerly known as the Guinness PRO14 – returns to terrestrial television for the 2021/22 campaign in a move which has been heralded as a huge boost for the competition by its organisers.BBC Wales and Welsh language channel S4C will, between them, broadcast 75 per cent of the season’s live games involving Wales’ four professional sides for the next four years.