Kirkcaldy Rugby Club skipper plays despite food poisoning

Smith kicked two conversions to Kirkcaldy tries by Matt Collins and Connor Wood, but a below par display by the Beveridge Park hosts saw them crash by 12 points.

Smith told the Fife Free Press: “We were just a bit flat to be honest. I’m not sure what it was. Newton Stewart were the better team on the day but we were off the mark.

“I probably shouldn't have played. I got food poisoning on the Friday night so I was up all night being sick. It was a pretty bleak day for me and I was below par on Saturday as well so it might have had a knock-on effect for the boys. We just didn’t show up unfortunately.

"It was my call to play. Quinny (head coach Quintan Sanft) had asked me if I was good to go and I said I’d give it a shot.

"I played the full 80 minutes, got through it, but it probably wasn’t at my best level, maybe 50% fit.

"I thought personally as captain if I was going to say no I would probably regret it.

"Even if I had been 100% fit I don’t know if it would have made a difference.

"Newton Stewart hadn’t won a game yet so they were desperate for a win. I think we have only beaten them twice in our history.

"It’s always a struggle against them, I don’t know why. They were bottom of the league, rocked up hungry and they were good for the win which is tough.”

In a change to their normal build-up to the match, 20 Blues players – not including Smith – had met up for a curry and a few beers on the Tuesday night, before training was staged as normal last Thursday evening.

Smith said: “That was pre-planned for a long time. We had had several weeks of Tuesday and Thursday training sessions so it was essentially just a night to rest up and have a team night.

"It was more just to rest the bodies. A lot of the boys were carrying a few knocks.

“If you’d said at the start of the season we were going to win the first four games we’d have bitten your hand off.

"There were no expectations for us to go the full season undefeated, but it was tough to lose at home and more so in the manner that we did.

"We can always take a defeat on the chin but the way we performed essentially wasn’t good enough on the day.

"We were always behind. It was 19-7 at half-time. We were always chasing the game.

"Credit to Newton Stewart. They make their shots and have good defence so it’s a team you have to grind down, we weren’t going to be able to run tries in from length.

"It was a very difficult game. We had a good amount of ball, we just made silly mistakes in the first and second halves.

"Once we gave up a few easy scores in the first half it was hard to pull it back.”

Kirkcaldy, who remain top with 20 points from five matches, this Saturday travel to second-placed Gordonians, who have 19 points from five fixtures, for a 3pm kick-off.

"That will be a massive game,” Smith said. “I said at the start of the season that Gordonians away is probably the hardest game in the league so we fully expect it to be a difficult game this weekend.

"They lost the first game of the season but since then they’ve gone undefeated.

"They’re in good form and have put some good scores on teams, so they’ll be hard to topple up there.

"Albeit we are top of the league at the moment, we might go up there as underdogs.”