Dai Sport

The Welsh regions emerge, bleary-eyed, back into the autumn sunshine this weekend but it would be wrong to think they have been in hibernation. According to Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan, it was far more dramatic than that.

Brennan Johnson and his Tottenham teammates earned the praise of manager Ange Postecoglou after the Wales striker struck with a 93rd minute winner to avoid an embarrassing Carabao Cup exit at Coventry City. The Wales striker delivered just a day after his manager had defended him in the wake of social media abuse over recent performances.

Colin Ingram’s innings of 82 made him the highest run-scorer in County Championship cricket so far this season - but that failed to satisfy the Glamorgan captain after his team lost the initiative in their match at home to Yorkshire. The visitors took a significant step towards a return to Division One by taking control of Glamorgan’s penultimate Division Two fixture, despite a late fightback from the home tail in saving the follow-on.

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.