Dai Sport

Welsh swimmers returned to competition last month, but it’s only a toe in the water ahead of the Olympic Games this summer and many more strange, new Covid-compliant races will be required before Tokyo, as Graham Thomas reports. Dan Jervis has been praised for his immediate return to form but he and the rest of Welsh swimming’s elite need more competition. That’s the call from Swim Wales performance director Ross Nicholas after Jervis, Georgia Davies and a number of other leading Welsh swimmers got back to racing in the pool at the recent Manchester International Swim Meet.

Wales Wheelchair Rugby League head coach Stephen Jones has announced a 17 player train-on squad, which includes six potential debutants, for camps in both March and April to prepare for the upcoming Celtic Cup. Jones will later narrow the squad down to a maximum of 13 for the Celtic Cup, which is being held at The University of Edinburgh’s Sport & Exercise Pleasance facility on Saturday 12th June, the tournament having been postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Golfers in Wales will soon be able to improve at a state-of-the-art, fully inclusive Short Game Academy, that is all-weather and floodlit, after work has just started on the exciting new project. The Inclusive Short Game Academy will be at Parc Golf Club between Cardiff and Newport and has been funded by the Sport Wales, R&A, Wales Golf and Parc itself.

With British middle distance running entering what could be a new golden era, rising 1500m star Piers Copeland is excited at the prospect of winning his first GB vest at this weekend's European Athletics Championships in Poland.

Mike Phillips has heaped praise on Wayne Pivac and told England they need to wise up with referees. The former Wakes scrum-half has pointed to Pivac’s selection policy in the autumn as sewing the seeds for the Triple Crown success, with the willingness of the Wales coach to give youngsters game time to earn valuable experience. But Phillips also believes Wales are way ahead of England – who were beaten 40-24 in Cardiff last weekend - in their recognition of how to communicate with officials, without getting on the wrong side of them.

Mick McCarthy will revert back to being the senior pro in the dug-out tonight when Wayne Rooney brings his Derby County side to the Welsh capital. Having had to concede 500 games to his old pal Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough last weekend, the 62-year-old Cardiff City manager McCarthy will be the one holding all the aces in the experience department against the new kid on the block. Rooney has 21 games under his belt compared to McCarthy's 994.

Cardiff Blues will be confined to the history books next season when the Welsh region rebrands itself as Cardiff Rugby. After 18 years as the Blues, the professional rugby team in the Welsh capital will change its name and image in a bid to get closer to its famous past and heritage created by Cardiff RFC. It means the Arms Park will now host two teams with almost identical names – Cardiff Rugby, who will play in the Guinness Pro14, and Cardiff Rugby Football Club, who play in the Welsh Premiership.

Jonny Clayton says he will go into the Ladbrokes UK Open full of confidence after continuing his stunning start to 2021. The Pontyberem thrower is in the form of his life after following up last month's Ladbrokes Maters success - his first TV title - with a superb four days at the Players Championship.

Three Welsh runners will be in Poland this weekend, taking on the continent’s best in the European Indoor Athletics Championships. In the first of three features, Owen Morgan has spoken to the youngest of the trio – 400m star Joe Brier. Joe Brier is relishing the chance to take on some of the best 400 meters in the world  this weekend. The Swansea Harrier will face the likes of three-time world indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslák at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland.