Tribute.

Wales have confirmed they will wear rainbow laces this weekend in their game against South Africa to show their support to former captain Gareth Thomas, who was recently the victim of a homophobic attack.

In a video posted to his Twitter page last Sunday, Thomas appeared to have a bruised and cut face and said he had been attacked on Saturday night in the Welsh capital.

“This morning I have decided to make what I hope will be a positive video. Last night I was the victim in my home city of a hate crime for my sexuality,” Thomas said on Twitter

“Why I want it to be positive: I want to say thank you to the police, who were involved and allowed me to do restorative justice to the people that did this because I thought they could learn more that way.”

“And also to the people of Cardiff who supported me and helped me because there’s a lot of people out there who want to hurt us. But, unfortunately for them, there’s a lot more who want to help us heal. So this, I hope, will be a positive message.”

French Rugby Federation’s vice president Serge Simon on Tuesday said that “all of French Rugby” is with him following the sickening assault, revealing they will wear rainbow laces for their game against Fiji.

And now Wales, who Thomas represented over 100 times at international level, will follow suit in a special tribute to the former player.