Dai Sport

Cardiff City keeper Alex Smithies admits even he didn't know how he pulled off one of the saves of the season. The Bluebirds stopper's stunning effort to deny Bournemouth's Dominic Solanke proved crucial, flinging out a hand to push his point-blank effort onto the bar.

Neil Harris says his predecessor as Cardiff City manager was a tough act to follow as Neil Warnock makes his return on Saturday. The Bluebirds will be looking for their first home win of the season when they face Middlesbrough who won impressively at Bristol City in midweek.

Jacob Draper, Rupert Shipperley and Sarah Jones have been named in the Great Britain squads for next week's return of the FIH Hockey Pro League. Draper and Shipperley make the men's squad for the games against The Netherlands (27 and 29 October) and Belgium (31 October and 1 November).

Gethin Jenkins is a “rugby anorak” whose obsession can help Wales counter the influence of Shaun Edwards when they meet France in Paris on Saturday. That’s the upbeat prediction of Gruff Rees, the man who has overseen the coaching development of of Jenkins at Cardiff Blues. Jenkins has replaced Sam Warburton in the Wales management set-up, specialising in defence and the breakdown area, having been drafted in by head coach Wayne Pivac.

The Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally, which was to have hosted the opening rounds of a number of major championships on 20 February, has been postponed until 30 October. With no sign of the arbitrary 30 person maximum gathering rule taking into account the vast open spaces rallying takes place in, the somewhat inevitable news about the Cambrian Rally will raise a very serious question.

A schoolboy dream will come true for Nick Tompkins in Paris on Saturday night when he plays alongside Jonathan Davies in a Wales shirt for the first time. The two players will form the midfield combination against France – a link-up Tompkins could only imagine when he was growing up as a rugby-mad youngster. Tompkins made his first four Test appearances in the Six Nations at the start of the year when Davies was out injured while he recovered from knee surgery.

Dai Sport has helped former Welsh half marathon record holder Steve Jones send his congratulations to Jake Smith – the man who broke his 34-year-old national best We contacted Jones at his home in the USA for his views on Smith’s spectacular performance at the World Half Marathon Championships last week.

Though the streets of Llanberis may be quieter this Saturday than on a usual Snowdonia Marathon weekend, S4C will be holding its own tribute to the event by challenging a host of elite runners to a race along the iconic route. Earlier this year, organisers announced that the 38th edition of the legendary marathon was to be postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, as part of a special S4C programme, a selection of north Wales’ top runners, including a host of previous winners, will race in two separate relay teams, with a member of each team running a leg of the marathon simultaneously.

Gareth Bale has admitted he is still short of his best form after making his first start for Tottenham since rejoining the club.The Wales captain played just over an hour of his club’s 3-0 over LASK in the Europa League on Thursday night, before confessing he still has work to do on his fitness. There were occasional touches of class, such as the cross that led to the Austrians conceding an own goal, before Bale revealed he feels he is still at the pre-season stage of his own fitness.