Dai Sport

For Matt Sherratt, there’s the sense of a new beginning as he embarks on his second season as Cardiff’s head coach. It’s been a summer of major change at the Arms Park both on and off the field and he is hoping that will now extend to his team’s results as they look to turn those narrow defeats into victories - starting with Friday night’s BKT URC opener at home to Zebre Parma.

Leighton Jones has stood down as head coach at Super Rygbi Cymru club Pontypool after just one game of the new season. Tom Hancock has been installed as the interim head coach for this weekend’s game against Bridgend at the Brewery Field. Pooler lost on the opening night of the season when they were beaten at home by reigning Premiership champions Llandovery, 21-18.

Abergavenny’s Alicia Kelly became the first girl to win the Gareth Bale Championship at Celtic Manor, dominating the field to earn a seven-shot victory. Beating the boys in such a prestigious competition is a boost for girl’s golf with less than a year to go before hosting the biggest female sporting event ever held in Wales when the AIG Women’s Open takes place in Royal Porthcawl next summer.

Former Scarlets coach and captain Simon Easterby will take over as interim Ireland head coach during Andy Farrell's time in charge of the British and Irish Lions. Farrell is set to oversee autumn Tests against New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia in Dublin before temporarily departing his role to lead next year's Lions tour against the Wallabies.

Owen Watkin is relishing his new found responsibility for club and country as he sets his sights on a major career milestone. The Ospreys centre started both Tests on Wales’ summer tour of Australia to take his tally of caps up to 41 as he took on a key role for Warren Gatland’s team.

Phil Parkinson has warned Birmingham City there is a long way to go after the Tom Brady-backed club won the battle of the League One headline-grabbers against Wrexham. Parkinson’s Dragons remain top of the table, but suffered their first defeat of the season at St. Andrew’s as they went down, 3-1 in the match billed as the “Hollywood derby.”

New faces Alaw Pyrs, Maisie Davies and Rosie Carr have all held their places in Ioan Cunningham’s Wales squad for the WXV2 tournament in South Africa. The trio made their senior debut appearances in the recent defeat to Scotland, but have stayed in a new-look squad to compete in South Africa at the end of September.

It’s a feature of Tongan rugby players that they all claim to be related to someone better known and Carwyn Tuipulotu was never going to buck that trend. The South Sea Islanders have been an integral part of the Welsh rugby scene for over 30 years and it appears they all belong to one huge extended family.

Luke Williams insists there are positive signs emerging for Swansea City after their second Championship victory of the season moved them up to just outside the top ten. The Swans head coach believes his team’s 1-0 home win over Norwich City was a significant result as it relied on the kind of virtues the side had lacked so far this season.

Cardiff City have offered no explanation for Erol Bulut’s no-show after his team’s defeat at Derby County. The Bluebirds boss swerved the media after his fourth defeat in five Championship matches left his team anchored to the bottom of the table following their worst start to a season in 35 years.