Gareth Thomas beaten in homophobic Cardiff attack

Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas has released a video on Twitter after he was attacked in his home city of Cardiff.

Thomas – rugby union’s first openly gay player – says he was the victim of a hate crime.

A clearly bruised Thomas gave a brief overview of the incident in the 38-second long video.

“This morning I’ve decided to make what hope will be a positive video. Last night was the victim, in my home city of a hate crime for my sexuality.

“Why I want it to be positive is because I wanted to say thank you to the police who were involved and who allowed me to do restorative justice, because I thought they could learn more that way than any other way.

“And also to the people of Cardiff who supported me, because there are a lot of people out there who want to hurt us. Unfortunately for them, there’s a lot more people who wanted to help us heal.”

pic.twitter.com/TUSyVMLiWX

— Gareth Thomas (@gareththomas14) November 18, 2018

The rugby community offered their support to Thomas on the social media platform.

Welsh scrumhalf Rhys Webb tweeted: “They Picked on the wrong person there mate. Hope your ok. You’ve got my full support”.

The BBC’s Jill Douglas wrote: “Well put Alfie – very sorry you had to experience this, but a typically positive and uplifting reaction.”

Well put Alfie – very sorry you had to experience this, but a typically positive and uplifting reaction. Big??

— Jill Douglas (@JillADouglas) November 18, 2018

Gabby Logan also chipped in with: “Loads of love big man.”

Loads of love big man xx

— Gabby Logan (@GabbyLogan) November 18, 2018

The incident mars what was otherwise a happy evening for Welsh Rugby.

Wales cruised to an ultimately comfortable 74-24 victory over Tonga on Saturday.

Steff Evans, Tomos Williams, Tyler Morgan, Cory Hill, Aled Davies and Rhys Patchell all touched down before Liam Williams marked his big day with a second try.

Dan Biggar – back in the side having lost the number 10 shirt to Gareth Anscombe for last weekend’s victory over Australia – contributed 19 points, including 14 from the tee, to give coach Warren Gatland a selection headache ahead of next weekend’s visit of South Africa.

The result extends Wales’ winning run to seven matches at home. Only once since 1978 have they enjoyed a longer such run – nine games between 1997 and 1999.