A Samoan player has been suspended after a police investigation was launched over an alleged assault following their match with Wales Rugby, which left one of their squad unable to feature at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco.
Tom Williams was replaced in the Wales squad on Sunday by Will Talbot-Davies after suffering injuries in an incident with Samoa player Gordon Langkilde, who was suspended by the Samoan Rugby Union for the final day of the championship. The clash is understood to have taken place in the tunnel of AT&T Park immediately after Wales clinched a 24-19 extra-time victory over Samoa, with Williams said to have been “bleeding heavily”.
The extent of Williams’ injuries are not known but a police investigation has been launched, with World Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union confirming that the matter is being handled by Californian authorities, and his teammate Luke Treharne admitted that the incident had left the team “shocked”.
“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.”
A World Rugby statement read:"We can confirm a Samoa player has been provisionally suspended from Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 following an initial investigation into an alleged incident in the tunnel area after a match between Samoa and Wales at AT&T Park on Saturday.
"The alleged behaviour is not aligned with the sport's values and the excellent spirit in which this competition has been played by the 40 participating teams.
"World Rugby has instigated an investigation and the Samoa player will remain provisionally suspended until the final conclusion of that process."
The WRU added "after medical assessment relating to the incident, Tom Williams was ruled out of the match against Ireland”, while head coach Gareth Williams said they he had never seen anything like it happen before.
The incident tarnishes what has been a hugely successful World Cup in San Francisco, which has attracted over 100,000 supporters to the home of the San Francisco Giants baseball side over the course of the three days’ play.
After beating Canada 35-12 in their final match, Wales clinched 11th place.
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
