Samoa sevens player Gordon Langkilde has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges following an altercation with Welsh team members at the World Cup in San Francisco.
Gordon Langkilde is tackled during the Vancouver Sevens in March. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The San Francisco Examiner reports Langkilde must remain in the United States while awaiting trial on two counts of battery, one count of assault and one count of misdemeanour.
The charges relate to allegations that the 22 year old Langkilde attacked several Welsh players in the tunnel leading to the changing rooms after Samoa's 24-19 loss to Wales on Sunday in the Challenge quarter finals.
Police later arrested Langkilde at his hotel.
Langkilde pleaded not guilty to the charges through his attorney, Joshua Bentley, and will appear in court again on Tuesday for a pre-hearing conference.
"My client will not leave the country if released," Bentley told San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy before the judge decided to release Langkilde.
"His passport is with the sheriff's."
Bentley also told the judge that Poulos would remain with Langkilde "all the time" once released.
Murphy ordered the Sheriff's Department to hold onto Langkilde's passport and to stay at least 150 yards away from Wales players Tom Williams, Ben Roach and Luke Morgan, who were allegedly assaulted.
Langkilde must also check in with the Pretrial Diversion Project twice a week as a condition of his release..
Samoa Rugby Union supporting Langkilde and family in US
The Samoa Rugby Union high performance manager, Zane Hilton, says Langkilde was released last night into the care of their team manager, Peter Paulos, who has remained in San Francisco.
"The last thing we were going to do was leave him there by himself. Peter Paulos is our team manager who's currently on the ground in the States, who has stayed with Gordon," he said.
"The team however has obviously returned back here to Samoa (on Wednesday evening) so with Peter our team manager stayed on the ground there is completely abreast of everything that's going on and looking to support him however he can."
Zane Hilton Photo: Manu Samoa / Facebook
Zane Hilton declined to comment on the plea made in court.
He said the SRU does not condone Langkilde's behaviour but is continuing to support the player and his family as the legal process plays out.
"We obviously are disappointed by what has happened. It certainly overshadowed the rugby that happened on the field, being that our boys certainly played some really good rugby," he said.
"What we're currently doing at the moment is looking at working hand in hand with the (Pacific Rugby) Players' Association and (CEO) Aayden Clarke's been a huge help there, working hand in hand in how we can really support both he and the family.
"Obviously the family are local here in Samoa as well as there's relatives over in the States at the moment so making sure we're keeping them abreast of everything that's happening as well as making sure we can support he and the family right throughout."
Hilton said the SRU will conduct their own investigation in due course.
"I think at the moment it's a little too early for that, to be fair. We pretty much need to let the legalities run their course and again once that all happens we will obviously make our own investigations," he said.
"Our major focus at the moment is making sure we support him and his family through this. Those type of things and investigations of our own can happen later on. Our number one priority is to make sure we can get him home."
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