19/02/2016 Sport Wales

open. Snooker, I absolutely love it. So it's a weekend off for the Six

Nations, but there's still plenty did -- to discuss. How have Wales

started, will they make changes and can they win the championship? We

went to the principality stadium to discuss. Two weeks under our belt,

what do you think of the Welsh performances? I haven't been that

disappointed. I know they drew the first game against Ireland but they

did a fairly good job. The intent is there to play and they will get

better and better. They are still starting a little bit slow, but I

think we'll see a vast improvement in the next three games. It's a

difficult one, it's a bit of an anti-climax. I was in Dublin and

Wales were the favourites. Ireland were decimated by injuries. Its

single I can anti-climax. I talked to Sam Warburton after the match and

he was disappointed. He thought they could have snatched it and it was a

great opportunity, but you have to applaud Ireland. Wales had uphill

battle to come back and they did well. That's testament to the morale

and the ethos within the squad. All in all, good performance, but it

wasn't a win. But Wales will improve.

A negative was losing Dan, but it was a pretty good positive for the

substitute to come on and play the way he did. It is great now to have

two players fighting for that Jersey. I know Dan is the number-1

talent, but Rhys come off the bench full of form. And you want to see

that. It will bring the best out of each other. What did you think of

the Wales and Scotland match? I'm not quite sure that they are the

team everyone thinks they are. They scared Wales and I think for a good

30 or 40 minutes me too. But Wales have that quality on the field. They

have winners and the biggest plus is the quality and standard of the

bench. Scotland did not have that whatsoever. Absolutely. I was

impressed with the way that JB Roberts has conducted. He has come

away with man of the match, rightly so. -- Jamie Roberts. How would you

think he plays? His form has been brilliant and I feel a lot of

batters down to you nurturing him. Standard. Developing him as a

player. Jamie seems to me, the more he he loses, the better player he

becomes. At the moment, he is on fire. He is trying to be you, Tom.

But his carrying ability and hit comedy gets in the game

straightaway. Some of them have been plundering and it is a massive plus

to be way Wales want to play. Do you think that will make any changes to

the French game? You do not change a winning team. Has the back row

worked together? I like the combination. If you want to play a

wider and faster game, you have to have speed. It depends on the way he

wants to approach it. I think he will stick with the same team. What

do you make of France? I think it is a good position. They have been

rusty, but they are coming on in a positive way. I led her to beauty

products -- island had to go to Paris and when. If Wales wants to

get that big scalp against England in Twickenham, we do not want to

fall this hurdle. How do you see the game going on Friday evening? The

team looks good. The first try. That is a big call to throw in a player

who hasn't played the rugby 15th in two years. I am a little bit

worried. The downpour to France is the uncertainty at halfback. They

seem to have different halfbacks every single year. It is difficult

to build a team on that. There are weaknesses. But they are there to

play. And as soon as they get their tails up, anything can happen. Wales

need to be positive on that. Wales need to sort down the breakdown

area. A war of attrition and that sort of area. Get the runners

running around and try, if he is going to keep the same team, get

people involved. Looking in that crystal ball, who do you think on

March 19, will be crowned champions? I think if Wales can win, which I

think they well against France, I think it puts it all up for grabs

between Wales and England. That will be a great conclusion to the six

Nations. I think Wales have got a fantastic opportunity. I have seen

England play. But I think they are still a little bit scrappy. But I

think Wales should have enough firepower to go up to Twickenham and

take another scalp. I think the winner will come down to that

England and Wales battle at Twickenham. I would love to see Ford

and Farrell playing together. England had look fairly dangerous in

attack. It will be a huge game. I think Wales will do it. Thank you

very much for coming around and sharing your thoughts. Bring your

boots. Nice one. To Swansea city and no much for them either this

weekends, so a perfect opportunity for me to catch up with their new

boss Francesco Guidolin. Good to meet you. How is life in Swansea?

How are you settling in? I like Swansea. I like people and I am

happy to be here. But my job is... A difficult job and I hope to do my

job well. And to have a good last part of the season, because our

table is not good now. But I am confident and positive for the

future. People want you to do well. People are willing Swansea to

survive and to stay up. How difficult is it, where Swansea are

at the moment? We are worried a little bit, but I think we have the

possibility, characteristics and quality is to survive the season.

Are you worried about your two next games? High flyers? Spurs and

Arsenal? My opinion is we have three months of battle. Yes, difficult

battle, but I concentrated match by match. And now we have... And it is

a very difficult match, but I am focused only on this much. Swansea,

the Premier League, it has made such a difference to this town and to

Welsh football. Do you get a sense, do you understand, how important it

is to this city and to Wales? That Swansea are only Premier League? I

think for Welsh people, it is very, very important to stay in the

Premier League. I think Swansea is... The pride. The pride, one of

them of Wales. And, yes, I think it is very important for this country

to have a team in the Premier League. Are you happy here? Do you

like Swansea? Do you like being here? Yes, I like to walk and this

is a country fantastic for walking, for running. For cycling as well. I

know you love cycling, it is a great passion of yours and you are a great

fan of Geraint Thomas. Yes, I am. And I hope to meet him. We wish you

all the best with Swansea city for the rest of the season. Good luck.

Good luck. There's only 168 goes until -- days

to go until the Olympics. Athletes are battling through qualification

to make the cut. Only three women have ever won gold in history of the

games. Cathy Williams went to meet one of our leading ladies hoping for

success. Irene stare became the first Welsh female to win an Olympic

gold medal back in 1912. Another followed and Jade Jones in 2012.

Will Rio produce another? One athlete is fighting through her way

to make history. And the first to compete in her sport, she hopes.

Paris is the biggest Grand Slam of them all. It was the equivalent of

the worlds. Natalie Powell is the favourite for Olympic selection this

year and she is determined not to let history repeat itself. In 2012,

she was cruelly dropped in favour of her GB rival Gemma Givens. Do you

remember what you are feeling when you missed out on that place? It was

just really disappointing, but I think the fact we had only been

training for six months made it a little bit easier to deal with. If I

had been training for four years and put everything into it and then

missed out, I think it would be harder. I remember having dinner

with Gemma and Natalie and in my search notes I had said that we

should take Natalie, because she is the future. And that went down like

a lead with Gemma. And I'm glad that the rest of the selectors didn't

agree, because Gemma won a medal. Now I am working with Natalie and

hopefully she can deliver the same. I knew at the time she was the

better player, so it was fine. I was gutted, but I knew that I had a lot

more to give. Two years after her Olympic disappointment, Natalie was

challenged by Gemma once again. This time in Commonwealth Games final. I

remember, just before the final, of people said they expected Gemma

would step up and deliver the big performance. I had an inkling that

actually Natalie was going to be a big performer. She stepped up in

those times. If I am honest, she is such a nice girl, but she's a

different person on competition day. To win win the gold is always been a

massive goal of mine. To get to the final and do it the way it happened,

yes, that was really, really special.

The following year, 2015, you made history at the Masters. Tell me

about that. That's by far the biggest achievement of my career so

far. I took a massive step forward. Although I knew I could fight at

that level, it showed me I can perform at that level and I am

capable of doing it. But late last year her fitness was in doubt when

she suffered a knee injury while competing for Team GB. It sucked.

It's part of being an athlete. You get injuries. I'd had a tough year,

I've competed most weekends and it was my body telling me to have a

rest. The medical staff at sport Wales are fantastic and the second

she was ready, she was back on the mat. So for the Commonwealth

champion, there's just one more hurdle before getting a plane ticket

to Rio. If she focuses on the Europeans and she wins that, which

she is capable of doing, she'll definitely go to Rio. Seven of the

world's top ten are European so if you wins the Europeans, she'll go to

the Olympics knowing she can win that as well. If she wins the

Europeans, it's all systems go. What would it mean to you to get that

place and go to Rio? It's been everything I've been striving for

for the last four years. I've been concentrating on it every day.

Everything is tailored towards it. That's all I'm looking at. I haven't

seen the other option of not going. If you made a list of Welsh sporting

greats, Colin Jackson would be It was his birthday this week

so we sent his friend, Christian Malcolm, along

to his house to celebrate. Colin, you finally

invite me to your house. I know, it's been a very long time,

but yeah, you've made it here. Your Olympic history -

you've won a little bit over the years, a couple

of European Championships, World Championships,

Olympic silver medal. What has Colin Jackson,

the legend, won? We've got Olympic silver medal,

two World Championship golds, two World Championship silvers,

one World Championship bronze, one world record over 110 hurdles

that's lasted for ten years, and you've still got

the indoor record. One indoor gold, three

world indoor silvers, three Commonwealth golds,

four European gold medals and three So what happened

in your career, mate? I got a couple of

Commonwealth medals. European indoor gold,

European indoor silver. The only thing I missed

was the Olympics. You did all right, no,

you did all right! I was blessed, I was

blessed, I was blessed! Were you happy,

disappointed with that? You're so competitive,

I know what you're like. I'd won the World Championship

bronze medal the year before so for me it was kind

of like anything I got above a bronze was going to be

a great performance. Kingdom is going to win it

and Jackson is going Kingdom wins it, Jackson second

and Campbell in third. It was exciting because it was my

first Olympic Games. I think when you go to a major

championships like an Olympic Games in a brand-new culture,

you get the total experience of what the Olympic Games

can really be like. You're meeting new people,

you're in a village. It was really cool, but also,

you can imagine I was thinking, in four years, I'm

going to take the gold. The expectation, Barcelona,

the next Olympics, was gold. McKoy wins it, McKoy

is the Olympic champion. That would be one

of the good things. Dai Greene has been world champion,

we know what he's capable of. He's been just shy of the British

record on a couple of occasions It would be good to see

if he could get back truly on the international stage

and raise his game to be up there, We know she had a cracking indoor

season last year and she's started this indoor season

really well as well. David Omoregie, your event,

great hurdler, great talent, everybody saying he will be

the next Colin Jackson. Yeah, a lot of people have been

comparing David with me because of his success as a junior

and coming through in that sense. He's been injured, as we know,

and those injuries can hold you back, especially when you're

doing a technical event. Because you are trying

to learn a skill. The good thing about high hurdling,

though, you can get to the age of 31, 32 and be still at your

best and progressing. Have faith in the young boy

because I think he's got the skills and the attributes that a good

high hurdler requires. Colin, there is something

I'd like to say. You look so young, you look

like you haven't aged I heard it was your

birthday this week. Yes, it was my birthday

yesterday, actually. All I can say is congratulations

and happy birthday from Sport Wales. And thank you for inviting

me into your house. Snooker now and the Welsh Open

reaches its climax this weekend with the final being

played on Sunday. Mark Williams is the only Welshman

to have ever won it, So we sent an old friend of his,

Pritchard from Dirty Sanchez, We've got all the world's

best players here today. We've got O'Sullivan

stirring it up again. We've got my mate, Mark Williams,

playing the world number one. Do you think I've got

the right foundation? You've got quite a good record

with Selby, haven't you? Played him quite a few times when he

was a youngster coming through. I played him a few

months ago and beat him. If you beat him now,

who could you go through to play? There he is, big crybaby,

Ronnie O'Sullivan. I'm here with Mark

Williams' wife and son. How do you reckon he's

going to get on today? Well, hopefully he'll do OK,

playing against Selby so it will be Apparently he's actually beaten

Selby more than Selby What do you think

the score might be? Here he comes - the man,

the myth, Mark Williams. He didn't even say hello

to me, cheeky git! Michael White has led

the way for Wales early on. The young man into

the quarterfinals here. Let's find out if the veteran,

Mark Williams, can join him as he faces the world

number one, Mark Selby. Mark Williams, with 58,

secures the first frame. Oh, mind you, just when he had

the game at his mercy! I think Williams has given him

a few too many chances. Tell me about the game,

what happened? I just missed three

simple balls that you... Well, maybe not you

I had VIP seats, I was there watching.

Who said snooker isn't rock and roll?

Don't forget you can keep up with the latest from the Welsh Open

all weekend here on the BBC, starting straight after this.

Stay tuned for quarterfinal action with our very

We're back next Thursday when we'll look ahead to Friday's Six Nations