Higgins facing spell on sidelines (From Bournemouth Echo)

Higgins facing spell on sidelines

5:38pm Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

BOURNEMOUTH centre Adam Higgins faces another lengthy spell on the sidelines after breaking his thumb for the second time in just over four months.

The luckless youngster had just fought his way back into Lions’ side but he sustained a new fracture during their agonising 16-15 defeat at high-riding Old Patesians.

Higgins initially broke his thumb during a 34-27 triumph at Maidenhead in National Three South West on October 31.

He spent 13 weeks on the sidelines and has only made four appearances since, prompting Lions coach David Dunn to say: “I’m absolutely distraught for Adam.

“He broke his thumb, it healed and he got back in the team.

“Now he has broken his thumb again, but in a different place.

“He did it making a tackle in the first half. He just landed awkwardly and is probably out for the rest of the campaign.”

Dunn added: “Adam is a young lad who has a good career in front of him.

“He has been hit with a lot of bad luck in a short time. It’s a shame, but he will recover and become a stronger lad and a better player as a result of it.”

Higgins bowed out of the action after 20 minutes as Bournemouth, playing up the hill, held Old Patesians to a 13-0 deficit on their infamous Everest Road sloping pitch shortly before half-time.

Michael Pope popped over a penalty to make it 13-3 at the break before Lions roared into a 15-13 advantage with tries from Rory Hearson and Ben Stewart, with Pope adding one conversion.

Bournemouth’s hopes of bagging a notable league double disappeared late on, though, after second row Tim Collier had been sin-binned while Lions were pinned down near their own line.

Old Patesian full-back Nielson Webber coolly slotted over the resultant penalty with 10 minutes to go as they gained re-venge for a similarly nail-biting 14-13 reverse at Bournemouth.

Dunn said: “I was so disappointed for the players because their performance was so disciplined and we got 99 per cent of it absolutely spot on.

“It was cruel victory was taken away from us, but we can take away from it that we were the better side.

“We’ve played the top two, Taunton and Old Patesians, away and given both a real run for their money.”

Bournemouth: K Lynch, Hearson, Higgins (Stewart 20), Chislett, Pope, Ngapaku, Bradley, Burns, Wilford, Manning, Brooks, Collier, Armstrong (Stevenson 60), Stanton-Ketchley, Hughes. Unused sub: R Lynch.