'Very remorseful' Samoan player pleads guilty to assault on Welsh players

Samoan player Gordon Langkilde has pleaded guilty to assault after a court hearing in the USA on Thursday. He injured three Wales players on July 22nd at the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in San Francisco.

The unsavoury incident took place after Wales had beaten Samoa in the final moments of a match, winning the game by a “Golden Point” in extra-time.

Wales Sevens players Tom Williams suffered broken facial bones, while Luke Morgan and Ben Roach also had facial injuries.

The 22-year-old has been ordered to pay compensation to the players and isn’t allowed to play rugby for a year.

Langkilde must also write a letter of apology to the trio, undertake 100 hours of community service, donate USD$2,500 (£1,900) to charity and complete an anger management course.

World Rugb , who were awaiting the conclusion of the trial, have not revealed its sanction on the player, but he remains suspended.

Langkilde pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, having previously denied two criminal counts of battery and one of assault, which could have resulted in a jail term.

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Aayden Clark, the Pacific Rugby Players chief executive, gave his reaction.

“We’ve had the charges reduced to being misdemeanours. He’s committed to a minimum of one year out of the game and will undergo anger management courses and counselling,” Clark said to Radio NZ.

“He’s paid a fine to the US courts and also (written) apology letters to the Welsh players… He’s very much aware of the implications of his actions and obviously very remorseful.”

Langkilde won’t feature for Samoa in the 2018/19 World Series and his future on the circuit is in doubt with a Las Vegas leg.

“He’s still a very young man and still wants to be a rugby player. As a players association we’ll work with him now on what he’s going to do with this year out.”

“As we know – these sorts of things, in terms of entering the United States, make it very difficult,” Clark stated.

“We haven’t crossed that bridge yet but that’s obviously going to be a consideration around what sort of rugby path he takes.”

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