Operation proves positive success
Portsmouth’s Parks-Dare has surgery on double leg fracture
Portsmouth Rugby Club head coach Gareth Richards provided an update on club captain Adam Parks-Dare after he suffered a double fracture in his right leg during Saturday's abandoned London 3 South West home meeting against Petersfield.
Richards confirmed the hugely popular Portsmouth player underwent successful surgery yesterday, with a metal rod inserted in his right tibia.
Parks-Dare, who suffered the horrendous injury early on against Petersfield, has remained in the QA Hospital since Saturday but is hopeful of being allowed home at some stage today.
The 37-year-old faced a wait of around 30 minutes on the pitch before an ambulance arrived at Rugby Camp, with Portsmouth physio Ricky Lidbetter and Petersfield opposite number Leanne Richardson attending to Parks-Dare while they awaited further medical support.
Portsmouth head coach Richards praised the way both physios Lidbetter and Richardson dealt with such a serious injury situation and said Parks-Dare has remained in the thoughts of every connected with the club since suffering the double leg fracture.
Head coach Richards said: ‘He had an operation yesterday to have a rod inserted down his tibia (right leg) and that’s happened.
‘The surgeon is pleased with how it went, he’s got a physio assessment today, when hopefully he’ll be able to go home.
‘Everybody at the club it’s all we’ve been thinking about since Saturday - Adam said the operation went well and he said himself he feels immediately more comfortable that there’s stability back in his leg - he’s probably looking forward to going home and seeing his wife.
‘We had a scrum on our five-metre line, it was just a freak accident really, his foot slipped and his studs got caught with various weight going over the top of it, it just broke there. It was just a really, really horrible, freak accident.
‘We had our club physio Ricky Lidbetter there and club physio for Petersfield, Leanne Robertson, who we
know very well, they (both) did a brilliant job.
‘They did such a brilliant, professional job and we’re thankful to Petersfield and Leanne with the way she supported Ricky and keeping Adam as comfortable as he could at that point.’
Petersfield were leading 26-0 having ran in four tries when ParksDare suffered the horrendous injury.
The match was abandoned soon after given the severity of the situation, with league officials awarding Petersfield five points and stating the result would stand. However, Richards stressed the outcome of the meeting was furthest from his concerns given ParksDare's serious injury. He added: ‘To be fair, they (Petersfield) were well towards winning the game at that early stage. I think our boys, especially the front row who were near to him, I think they were traumatised in the short-term and they weren’t in a fit state to carry on.
‘I was happy to concede the fixture at that point - it wouldn’t have been right to play on at that point.’
Richards revealed he’ll allow the squad to have a meeting without any coaching involvement before training this evening.