Dai Sport

Cardiff City this week announced they had agreed a new two-year contract with one of their most promising youngsters – 21-year-old Tom Sang. It’s a decision that underlined just how rapidly the Liverpool-born player has progressed this season, says Jack Price. Whilst Tom Sang and Cardiff City are now basking in his current successes, his fortunes have not been so rosy throughout the season. At the start of this campaign, Sang found himself a peripheral figure in the fourth tier with Cheltenham Town, a long way from where he stands today in holding down a place with a club in the Championship.

Three Welsh coaches will be at the heart of Warren Gatland’s back-up team when the British and Irish Lions tour South Africa this summer. Robin McBryde, Steve Tandy and Neil Jenkins will assist Gatland for the three-Test series against the world champions, the Springboks. Gatland’s choices were announced on Tuesday morning, along with confirmation that Scotland’s Gregor Townsend will be the attack coach.

Ben Cabango could miss a total of three matches after his breach of Swansea City’s Covid rules – half of the club’s vital Championship run-in. The Wales international has already been dropped from the Swans’ key game away to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night after police were called to his home following allegations he was hosting a party. Now, the 20-year-old could also be absent from the back-to-back home games against Wycombe at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday and the fixture with QPR the following Tuesday.

Until last week, Jordan Hart used to be Wales’ leading badminton player and Britain’s No.2. Now, though, she belongs to Poland after quitting Welsh sport over what she claimed was a lack of support. Speaking exclusively to Dai Sport, she tells Fraser Watson why she felt the need to leave Wales. Changing location is one thing, changing the country you represent is another. Which is why the decision that Jordan Hart has made - to represent Poland instead of Wales at international badminton tournaments - ranks as the most difficult of her career by far.

Swansea Harrier Joe Brier has been selected to represent Great Britain at the 2021 World Athletics Relays in Poland next month. The championships will mean a return to the country where Brier last month won a European Indoor Championships bronze medal in the 4x400m.

Welsh rowing pair Vicky Thornley and Ben Pritchard have returned from the European Rowing Championships with silver medals. The pair both finished runner-up in their respective finals at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy, as they returned to competitive action. Thornley took silver in the women’s single sculls, while Pritchard also finished second in his final of the para single sculls race for PR1 athletes.

Former Ospreys coach Steve Tandy has emerged as a strong candidate for a coaching role with the British and Irish Lions this summer. Tandy – who has bolstered Scotland’s resurgence as their defence coach – is reportedly being lined up for the same role assisting Lions head coach Warren Gatland in South Africa. Gatland is due to confirm his coaching team on Tuesday, but having suffered a series of setbacks through candidates making themselves unavailable, it appears that 41-year-old Tandy, who spent six years in charge of the Ospreys, is in prime position for a role.

Mick McCarthy has admitted Cardiff City’s faltering promotion bid is likely to cost them their loan stars such as Harry Wilson and Sheyi Ojo. With realistic hopes of making the play-offs appearing to have gone following the 2-2 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers, the Bluebirds manager is readying himself for a summer of rebuilding. That is set to mean the departure of borrowed talent who might have stayed had the club managed to reach the Premier League.

Scarlets chairman Simon Muderack insists the Welsh regions have been short-changed over their supply of players to Wales’ title-winning Six Nations campaign. The region’s chief has called for a re-think into the financial distributions within Welsh rugby and believes only a re-allocation of resources can enable the game to recover from the effects of the pandemic. Muderack argues the Scarlets have not been compensated properly for their provision of 13 players to Wayne Pivac’s Wales squad this season.

Warren Abrahams insists Wales Women will learn the lessons from their thumping 45-0 defeat to Ireland and become a better side in the long run. South African Abrahams has quickly joined the long line of beaten Welsh coaches who talk about absorbing lessons, learning, progress, better days ahead, jam tomorrow, etc. That is after just two matches – both one-sided, heavy defeats in which Wales’ most encouraging moments came when they did no more than simply stem the flow of tries being conceded.