Rugby star finds his tooth on pitch days after face ripped open in horror moment

The gruesome injury left the 29-year-old with “a big hole” in his chin

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Northampton Saints fly-half Anthony Belleau has opened up about the gruesome injury he suffered against Harlequins earlier this month, as a flying boot knocked out his teeth and ripped a hole in his face.

The 29-year-old French international was attempting to tackle Quins’ Rodrigo Isgro when he was struck in the mouth by the boot, which knocked out three of his lower incisors. The gruesome injury left, in his words, “a big hole” in his chin and he will now bear a facial scar for life after having the deep gash stitched back together.

While one tooth was knocked loose and stayed in his mouth, another was found on the pitch by the medical team who tended to him during the Gallagher PREM clash.

As for the third, however, it was not discovered until Belleau himself analysed footage of the incident and went back to Franklin’s Gardens, where he found his final missing tooth on the field.

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While the Frenchman’s teeth were put back in, they were not secure enough to stay put and he will now be without them for a couple weeks as he waits for implants to be fitted.

However, speaking to MailOnline, the Northampton star was in high spirits despite suffering one of the most shocking injuries of the season so far.

“It’s getting better,” Belleau said. “It was quite crazy, I got this impact and it left a big hole in my chin. Three teeth came off. One tooth was still in my mouth and the medical team found one of them on the pitch, so they put it in a little tube.

“After the game, I went to the hospital and had two teeth put back in. The other one was still on the pitch.

“I felt bad leaving my tooth alone on the pitch so I looked on the video to see where the impact was. I went back three or four days later and found the other tooth by the try line,” he added.

“They put them back in but they were not secure enough to stay, so I saw the dentist this morning and he took them out again. I won’t have teeth for the next couple of weeks, until I get implants. Then I’m going to have fake teeth!”

While he was advised by a specialist to avoid contact for two weeks, Belleau incredibly put himself forward to play just eight days later, after his fellow fly-half Fin Smith was ruled out of Northampton’s Champions Cup clash with Bordeaux.

Despite the risks, he emerged unscathed with “just a bit of blood”, although he couldn’t help his side to victory as they were thumped 50-28 by their French hosts.

“Our team changed on Friday morning,” said Belleau. “Fin Smith was out. The only risk was if my teeth get an impact but I had a splint in my mouth and a second gumshield. It was a bit risky but I tried on the gumshield which fit really well so I said, ‘OK, let’s go’.

“I had so many stitches in my mouth. I stopped counting but I had 17 down my chin, two layers of very deep stitches, and five or six inside. I was more worried about the scar than my teeth. The stitches got stretched a little bit during the game but it was just a bit of blood.”

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