Portsmouth Rugby Club head coach Gareth Richards offers latest on club captain Adam Parks-Dare after suffering double leg fracture in Petersfield match abandonment

Richards confirmed the hugely popular Portsmouth player underwent successful surgery earlier today, 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 discharged tomorrow.

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’s had an operation today to have a rod inserted down his tibia (right leg) and that’s happened today.

‘The surgeon is pleased with how it went, he’s got a physio assessment tomorrow, 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 was 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 Parks-Dare 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 should stand.

However, Richards stressed the outcome of the meeting was furthest from his concerns given Parks-Dare'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.’