Dai Sport

Warren Gatland has turned to a couple of new faces from outside of Wales in a bid to turn the tide in results this autumn. Gloucester second-row Freddie Thomas and Scarlets wing Blair Murray are the uncapped pair drafted in by Gatland for the November Tests. Thomas was born in the West Country whilst Murray is a New Zealander, but both qualify for Wales through their grandparents and in Murray’s case, his mother as well.

Five of the dozen JD Cymru Premier clubs were bundled out of the JD Welsh Cup on a bumper weekend of giant-killing acts in the first play-off round. Eliot Evans scored the only goal that took Cardiff Met through with a 1-0 win over Penybont at the home of current Cymru Premier leaders.

Alex Robertson believes Omer Riza’s five-goal job application deserves the thumbs up from Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan. Riza is four games into his interim stint in charge of the Bluebirds and has delivered seven points and eight goals to lift the club from bottom to 22nd in the Championship.

Steff Hughes branded his final home game as “bittersweet” as the Dragons missed out on another win at Rodney Parade. The 30-year-old centre paid tribute to the club as his final appearance in Gwent ended with a frustrating 21-31 loss to Benetton Rugby.

Scarlets skipper Josh Macleod insists there is more to come from his team following their dramatic victory over the Bulls. The west Wales region came from 19-7 down to consign the visitors from Pretoria to their first league defeat of the season, with wingers Blair Murray and Tom Rogers crossing for superb solo tries.

Anna Morris has admitted she was in shock after becoming Wales’ latest cycling world champion. Morris, from Cardiff, followed in the bike tracks of Emma Finucane as she rode her way to a first world title in the women’s individual pursuit, knocking out cycling legend Chloe Dygert on the way, on the penultimate day of the 2024 UCI Tissot Track World Championships. It means Wales now has two individual world champions and three members of a world champion team after the penultimate day of the Championships in Denmark.

Luke Williams reckons he has identified Swansea City’s problem – his players are too afraid to score goals. The Swans head coach came to that conclusion after watching his team fail to win for the fourth successive match as they lost 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers. As in their previous three matches during their winless streak, his team created chances but failed to take any of them.

Cardiff City interim manager Omer Riza remained coy on his prospects for the permanent job at the club after his side comfortably beat 10-man Plymouth 5-0 in the Welsh capital. Cardiff’s victory was their first win by five goals in the league in seven-and-a-half years, since their victory against Rotherham in February 2017. “I’m just trying to do the best job I can,” said Riza.

Callum Sheedy will captain Cardiff for the first time when he leads the team out at the Hive Stadium against Edinburgh on Saturday. “It’s a very proud moment for myself and my family,” said the fly-half, who came on board from Bristol over the summer.

The highest profile manager in the Championship goes head-to-head against the league’s biggest nobody in Cardiff on Saturday. Omer Riza – Cardiff City’s interim boss, who might struggle to be identified by any base other than Bluebirds fans – is up against Plymouth Argyle.