EAST DORSET 49 BRIDPORT 13

DAVE Smith suffered a broken leg as Bridport endured an afternoon of woe at East Dorset.

The first half of this Dorset & Wilts One South clash went reasonably well for the visiting Blues, who were first on the board with a converted try from Jamie Livingstone.

Full-back and man-of-the-match Tom Fullegar kicked ahead and when his home counterpart had his return punt charged down by Livingstone, there was only ever going to be one outcome.

However, East Dorset soon responded with an unconverted try for a 7-5 scoreline as the game remained extremely tight in the early exchanges.

As in their previous three matches, the Bridport scrum was masterful, pushing the home side around the pitch seemingly at will. Unfortunately for the Blues, a yellow card then weakened their side allowing the hosts to score two soft tries and a conversion to enter the break 18-10 ahead.

That difference was certainly not impossible to overcome but, just three minutes after the restart, Smith suffered a badly broken leg.

The Canadian could not be moved until an ambulance arrived, which eventually took him to Poole Hospital.

Both teams tried to stay loose and warm for the 30-minute wait, not an easy task on a cold, wet and windy park.

The Blues were clearly shaken by this serious injury to a popular team-mate and, as a result, their game went to pieces.

Their hearts were just not in it anymore and the final whistle was welcomed.

Previous scrum advantage melted, tackling was without heart and a good hiding was suffered as East Dorset went on to win 49-13.

It was a very long, dismal drive home from Christchurch for the saddened visitors, whose thoughts were all centred on their injured colleague.

The sadness is that Smith was about to emigrate to Australia and this serious injury puts all his plans on the back burner.

Bridport’s next game is not until January 4 when they entertain Westbury at the Brewery Ground. Hopefully Smith will be very much on the mend by then and the Christmas interval will restore the Bridport spirit.