Old Bar Clams’ rugby fullback, Matt Thompson, will miss the remainder of the Southern Shield competition after a clash of heads landed him in hospital in Newcastle with serious facial injuries.

Attempting to stop the Forster-Tuncurry Dolphins’ pivot Tom Harris from scoring a try near the posts last Saturday, Thompson apparently dived under the five-eighth, in the process striking Harris’ head.

Scans revealed a fractured eye socket, a fractured cheek bone and a broken nose – and a broken thumb.

Doctors suspected Thompson would need a metal plate inserted in his cheek, but facial swelling has caused them to postpone possible operative surgery.

Thompson has been informed he cannot play again for three months, in effect sidelining him for the year.

The setback is bad enough for Thompson, but for the club it comes at a critical time with four more rounds of the Mid North Coast’s southern pool competition remaining before the finals in August.

They had already lost smart goal-kicking five-eighth Brent Hodge for the season due to his army commitments in the Solomon Islands.

Old Bar were displaced at the top of the Abigroup premiership when they went down to the Dolphins, 7-28, after conceding four converted tries in the first 19 minutes during which period Thompson sustained his injury.

The Clams have a bye this weekend, leaving Jack Mundey some time to review the position at Old Bar before their run in to the play-offs.

The good news for the Clams is that their scrum worked ominously well against the Dolphins, hefty loose-head Murray Polson dominating his side of the scrum after the initial flood of try-scoring.

Remarkably, the man in the middle of the scrum was not their reserve grade hooker, but the irrepressible Teia Ambrosoli.

Last month, Ambrosoli sought time off from work at Coles in Taree due to severe stomach pains. He visited his family doctor at Nabiac, the doctor recommending his patient be rushed to hospital by ambulance.

Instead, Ambrosoli rode his motor cycle up the range to Krambach, dropping in to discuss world issues with his parents.

Returning by bike, he made his way to Taree’s Manning Base Hospital, a round trip of almost 100 kilometres, in time for an operation for a ruptured appendix and possible fatal septicaemia.

When he regained consciousness, the doctor informed Ambrpsoli he would be out of action for two months. The following weekend, he was stalking the touch line, cheering on the Clams. A week later, he was back in the scrum.

“He’s absolutely amazing. That’s how much he loves the game,” said an incredulous club titan, Richard Crook.

Tomorrow Forster Dolphins will host a Second XV game from 1.30 and a First XV game from 2.30 against the Nabiac-Bulahdelah Bulls at Tuncurry’s Harry Elliott Oval, the Bulls fresh from a major upset in their defeat of the Gloucester Cockies at Gloucester last Saturday.

The second game sees the Manning River Ratz meeting the Gloucester at Gloucester.