Thomas is forgiven by Wales
LIONS captain Gareth Thomas will lead Wales as normal next week despite being found guilty of assault in a French nightclub brawl three years ago.
The verdict from the Palais de Justice in Pau will not prevent Wales restoring their ‘ inspirational’ leader to the helm at the earliest available opportunity, against South Africa at the Millennium Stadium a week tomorrow. Within hours of Thomas being fined £ 1,000 and ordered to pay £1,900 in compensation, head coach Mike Ruddock was standing foursquare behind his captain.
‘ Gareth has been exemplary as captain of Wales,’ he said. ‘ He has been a great leader whose conduct on and off the field has been tremendous. So, as far as I am concerned, he remains captain of this Welsh team.
‘ Since I have been coach, he has conducted himself superbly. He is a truly inspirational captain.’
The case, which reached its conclusion yesterday, followed an inquiry into what happened at the El Barrio nightclub, where Thomas and three other members of his hometown club, Bridgend, had been drinking after a European Cup tie in Pau.
Thomas, former Wales lock Andy Moore and Bridgend prop Phil Booth were found guilty of violent affray and, in Booth’s case, sexual assault. Moore was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay compensation of £1,900, while Booth was given a six-month suspended sentence, fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,300 in compensation to the victims — 25-year- old Celine Arnaud and her boyfriend Jean-Michel Gonthier.
Gonthier said that he was kicked and beaten after being thrown down stairs by Booth. Thomas and Moore were said to have taken part in the ensuing brawl in which team-mates were so drunk they hit each other.
Thomas, a household name in France since helping Toulouse win the European Cup in his first season with the club, claimed not to have thrown any punches and said he had seen Gonthier strike Booth first. The court was told that Arnaud was injured, traumatised by the attack and off work 15 days and Gonthier 11 days.
Jean- Paul Brin, defending the players, said: ‘They had a small drink, made a mistake and have been held accountable for that. The fines are much more modest than what was asked for at the hearing last month. The compensation is also well below what was being demanded by the prosecution.’
With Thomas on club duty for Toulouse this weekend, Michael Owen assumes the captaincy of a much- changed team against Fiji tonight with Wales needing to pick up the pieces after their demolition by New Zealand last week. WALES: L Byrne ( Llanelli); K Morgan ( Newport Dragons), M Watkins (Llanelli), S Parker (Ospreys), S Williams ( Ospreys); N Robinson ( Cardiff), G Cooper ( Newport Dragons); J Yapp ( Cardiff), R Thomas ( Cardiff), C Horsman ( Worcester); B Cockbain (Ospreys), L Charteris (Newport Dragons); D Jones (Llanelli), M Owen (Newport Dragons, capt), M Williams (Cardiff). Substitutes: H Bennett ( Ospreys),
A Jones ( Ospreys), R Sidoli ( Cardiff), A Popham ( Llanelli), R Sowden-Taylor ( Cardiff), M Phillips (Cardiff), C Sweeney (Newport Dragons).