Tom Williams suffered broken nose and cheekbone in 'unprovoked' attack by Samoan opponent at Rugby World Cup Sevens
Gordon Langkilde remains in police custody in San Francisco and has been charged with aggravated assault and battery causing serious bodily injury
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Your support makes all the difference.Wales Sevens player Tom Williams is understood to have suffered a broken nose and cheekbone in what has been described as an “unprovoked attack” by a Samoan opponent who remains in police custody in San Francisco.
Gordon Langkilde, 22, has been charged with aggravated assault and battery causing serious bodily injury by San Francisco Police, who said on Tuesday that the Samoa Sevens player remains in custody following this weekend’s Rugby World Cup Sevens at AT&T Park.
One of Williams’ teammates described the incident that occurred in the tunnel after the match between Wales and Samoa as “shocking”, while The Independent also understands that two others were left injured. Luke Morgan is understood to have suffered facial injuries, while Ben Roach was seen on Sunday – the day after the incident – with a small bandage across his left cheek.
Williams was unable to play on Sunday, with the Welsh Rugby Union confirming that he had been deemed “medically unfit” to compete on finals day, while both Morgan and Roach featured – with the latter needing stiches in his cheek. Will Talbot-Davies was allowed to be brought into the squad to replace Williams – who scored the golden point that clinched a 24-19 victory over Samoa in extra-time on Saturday – with World Rugby giving Wales special dispensation to include him in the squad.
The Samoan Rugby Union elected to suspend Langkilde on Sunday, before he was arrested at the team’s hotel on later that afternoon.
Zane Hilton, general manager of high performance for Samoa, said: “The S.R.U. is aware of an incident taking place post-match.
“Incidents of this nature are extremely disappointing and take the focus off the game itself. The SRU is currently supporting Gordon with the investigations with World Rugby and the local San Francisco Police. Our major focus is to support Gordon with every effort possible at this time.”
San Francisco Police’s investigation continues, as does World Rugby’s.
The incident was witnessed by Wales player Luke Treharne, who on Sunday said: “There was an incident. I am not sure how much I can say but a couple of our boys were pretty seriously injured at the end of it, and the police are involved,” he said.
“It was shock. When everything comes out you will see all the details of it – it is pretty shocking stuff. The boys used it as a bit of motivation today. We were all there, all the boys were there so we all knew about it straight away.
“There was absolutely nothing at all, nothing really sparked it – it was unprovoked. It was nasty stuff to see. Even after that [extra-time win] the boys shook hands, we thought that was the end of it but there was nothing, no niggle in the game.”
Swiss watchmaker TUDOR is the Official Time Keeper of Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in partnership with World Rugby. For further information visit www.tudorwatch.com
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