Rabbitohs back-rower Angus Crichton has been in the wars, having his finger amputated earlier in the year, and now revealing he spat his tooth out on the MCG during NSW's Origin-opening win.
Crichton lost his tooth at the 31st minute mark of the opening half, after tackling Queensland hooker Andrew McCullough without his mouthguard.
The first-time Blue admitted to being daunted by the big occasion, forgetting to take his mouthguard out from his sock.
“It was crazy running out there and seeing that crowd,’’ Crichton told The Daily Telegraph.
“At the MCG, it was like a colosseum. I felt like I was in Gladiator, it was crazy.
“It (pace of the game) was still as fast as ever when I got out there.
“I was pumped, I was going a million miles an hour.
“I was so excited that I forgot to put my mouthguard in and I chipped half my back tooth.
“My mouthguard was in my sock so I must have forgotten to put it in.
“I tackled Andrew McCullough and he stepped back on my inside and something collected my jaw and a bit of my tooth got crunched, so I spat it out.
“I got on with it and put it (mouthguard) back in mid-play.’’
The 22-year old enjoyed his debut for the Blues, which included 22 tackles.
“It was good to get my first game out of the way — I thoroughly enjoyed it and just can’t wait to play again now,’’ Crichton said.
“I just wanted to run hard and tackle hard.
“That’s the mentality you’ve got to have in Origin. As everyone would’ve seen there wasn’t a lot of fancy shape or fancy play, it was more of just run hard, kick-chase hard, tackle hard and just keep doing that.
“Whoever could do that for 80-minutes was going to come off the better.
“I was happy to get 50-minutes out and hopefully I can build on that.’’