Owen Scourfield takes a look back at the year in review for Welsh sports, rounding up the highlights, the lowlights and a man with a yellow jersey.
Highlight of the year surely was Geraint Thomas’s Tour de France win, making him the first Welshman and third Briton to win the gruelling race. Few envisaged the Cardiff-born cyclist winning the race beforehand, but with his Team Sky teammate Chris Froome suffering early on, Thomas took advantage and pretty much made his team have to back him all the way to the end, heroically crossing the line on the Champs Élysées in first place – prompting celebrations across the country.
The Welsh national rugby team had a hit-and-miss Six Nations campaign, despite finishing second in the table: wins against Scotland, Italy and France at home tied up with two disappointing losses away to England and Ireland. No qualms about the Irish loss, who were eventual runaway winners of the Grand Slam, but a 12-6 loss at Twickenham was a prime example of what could have been; the score could easily have been reversed.
A win against South Africa in the summer led into a 2-0 series win out in Argentina. Two convincing test victories gave Warren Gatland and the coaching team the chance to blood some youngsters for the Autumn and next year’s World Cup in Japan.
The annual autumn internationals have again given the coaches vital game time to decide on squad selection for Japan 2019. Wins over Scotland, plus a first against Australia for a decade, set the ball rolling. A topsy-turvy but thrilling 74-24 win against Tonga and a bruising victory over South Africa amounted to an outstanding runout for the boys in red that gives us lots to be hopeful for looking forward.
Wales Women finished a respectable seventh in their World Cup tournament, beating hosts Ireland in their final play-off game.
At regional level, an up-and-down season for the Welsh teams saw the Scarlets and Blues do enough to qualify for the top tier of European competitions, while a lacklustre season for the Ospreys and Dragons meant a drop down to the second tier of the Euro cups this year.
The Ryan Giggs era began in the world of Welsh football, and he hit the ground running. The China Cup was our first look at the wheels in motion, and following a 6-0 thrashing of the hosts, Uruguay awaited in the final. A narrow 1-0 loss to last year’s World Cup quarter-finalists was by no means disappointing, but this good start ended with the UEFA Nations League tournament, where Wales finished up short.
A 4-1 drubbing of the Republic Of Ireland in early September was followed by a 2-0 loss to a Christian Eriksen-inspired Denmark. A strong Spain side turned out for a friendly in Cardiff in which they won convincingly 4-1, but a 1-0 win out in Dublin gave Wales confidence going forward. Unfortunately, Denmark were superior in Cardiff, winning 2-1, and a disappointing friendly loss to Albania led to a deflating end of the year. That said, Gareth Bale scoring that overhead kick in the Champions League final does give Wales fans something to remember.
The draw for Euro 2020 qualifiers proper takes place on Sun 2 Dec; Wales are still in Pot 2, which guarantees avoiding some big nations (Germany being the biggest). A fairytale journey similar to 2016 is not implausible: the team is definitely young and exciting enough to turn some heads.
The Welsh women’s football team led a hugely exciting and successful World Cup qualification run but were disappointingly pipped by England for an automatic qualification spot in a winner-takes-all match at the end of August, and other results went against them for the extra play-off spots.
In cricket, Robert Croft left his role as head coach of Glamorgan after three years in the role. Their County Championship campaign did not go as they would have liked, but the team were a lot more competitive in the shorter formats of the game with a small and young squad of players. Just recently, former captain and head coach Matthew Maynard was appointed as the club’s interim head coach.
February saw the Winter Olympics take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Laura Deas became the first Welsh medallist at a Winter Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the Skeleton. Meanwhile, Team Wales brought home a record-breaking total of 36 medals from the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia.
