Dai Sport

As the Cardiff Devils continue their search for a new head coach to replace Andrew Lord, managing director Todd Kelman has admitted he has a big job on his hands. The most successful coach in Devils' history after seven years in charge – who left to join Greenville Swamp Rabbits in South Carolina – is casting a long shadow across the ice, says Matthew Burgess. Sometimes in sport, people pass through teams as part of their journey to great things. It’s been two weeks since his tearful departure was announced, but Andrew Lord passing through the Cardiff Devils feels quite like one of those times.

Details of the newly formed West Wales Premier League have been confirmed as part of the ongoing restructure of the Welsh domestic football system. The new league will sit in the fourth tier of the Welsh system, bridging local football leagues at Tier 5 level and the newly-created Tier 3 leagues, which are yet to be officially confirmed. The West Wales Premier League originally sought to include participants from the Carmarthenshire League, Swansea League, Neath League and Pembrokeshire League, but with no entries forthcoming from the Pembrokeshire League, the inaugural West Wales Premier League will operate with 12 clubs.

Aled Brew’s time at Bath may have run out, but the former Wales wing insists he’s not ready to hang up his boots just yet. Brew may be 34 next month, but he tells Peter Jackson he wants two more years - wherever that might take him. It was never meant to be Aled Brew’s last match for Bath, a cruelly brief appearance fully four months before the season’s scheduled close. Leicester at home in late January brought the Welshman’s road at the Rec to a sudden dead-end. When injury put him out of action within the opening quarter, nobody watching his early exit imagined they wouldn’t be seeing him again.

Steve Cooper says Rhian Brewster is loving life at Swansea City and believes his goals can help fuel a surge into the play-offs. Brewster scored the opener in the Swans’ 2-1 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday to make it three goals in four matches for the Liverpool loanee, plus the shot that forced a goalkeeper’s own goal at Millwall. The young striker has looked hungry and purposeful since the season resumed and although he went off with a shoulder injury before the end, it is not considered serious and he should be fit to play at Birmingham City on Wednesday.

Jake Bidwell still believes Swansea City can launch a late surge into the play-offs to give their fans something to bask in after a miserable summer. The Swans defender insists today’s (Sun) home game with Sheffield Wednesday can prove a launch pad to repeat their early season form in which they won five and drew one of their first half dozen matches. That, says Bidwell, would lift the mood after figures showed Wales has suffered the highest rise in business collapses in the UK since March.

Super-sub Danny Ward earned Cardiff City an invaluable 1-0 SkyBet Championship victory in the Severnside derby against Bristol City at Ashton Gate to underline why manager Neil Harris wants to keep the striker at the club. Ward - who is out of contract when this season ends - scored the crucial only goal of the game to keep the Bluebirds in pole position to stay in sixth place and make the promotion play-offs. Manager Neil Harris is showing a remarkable ability to make the most of substitutions with Ward scoring with a left foot shot six minutes after being sent on for Callum Paterson. 

Former Wales U20 captain Tommy Reffell has revealed he was prepared to take a 25 per cent pay cut because he believes Leicester Tigers will one day lead him to greater riches. Reffell – who upped sticks from the family home in Pencoed to join the Tigers six years ago when he was still only 15 – agreed to have his wages slashed along with the majority of the rest of the squad. The measures were imposed by the English club in order to ease the financial burden placed on all sporting clubs due to the coronavirus crisis.

Having delved into the 70s, 80s, 90, and early 2000s, the rugby re-runs come right up to date this evening when Wales v Australia at last year’s World Cup in Japan is re-shown by S4C in the company of Wales pair Ken Owens and Rhys Patchell. The players join opera star Sir Bryn Terfel and Radio One’s Steffan Powell to mull over Wales’ tense victory on S4C’s Dyddiau Da. Watch the programme at 9.00pm on Friday 3 July, or on demand at S4C Clic. English subtitles available.

American pace ace Evan Mosey is heading back to South Wales for the 2020-21 Cardiff Devils ice hockey season. Mosey joins captain Joey Martin and Joey Haddad in confirming they will play for Devils next season. He is rated the ‘fastest skater in Elite League’ by Devils managing director Todd Kelman, who admits he was surprised by the speed of Mosey’s return following a knee ligament injury last season.