Blues rookie Angus Crichton’s tooth is somewhere on the MCG turf

ANGUS Crichton was so excited for his State of Origin debut he forgot to wear his mouthguard. As a result, one of his teeth is buried somewhere in the MCG turf.

QLD's Anthony Milford is tackled by NSW's Angus Crichton during Game 1 of the NSW v QLD State of Origin series at the MCG. Picture: Brett Costello

FIRST he sacrificed his finger, now Angus Crichton has left a part of his tooth buried in the famous MCG turf.

Earning a chapter in the annals of State of Origin folklore, Crichton has revealed to The Daily Telegraph how he nonchalantly spat bits of tooth out onto the hallowed ground during the Blues’ epic 22-12 game-one win on Wednesday night.

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The incident occurred during the manic first moments of the NSW bench forward entering the field in the 31st minute to make a tackle — without his mouthguard — on Queensland hooker Andrew McCullough.

This is the tackle that lost Crichton his tooth.

The South Sydney rising star — who had his finger amputated earlier this year — said it was his nerves and also the atmosphere of the 87,122 crowd, which left his forgotten mouthguard stuffed down his blue sock.

“It was crazy running out there and seeing that crowd,’’ Crichton said.

“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.

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“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.

Crichton played 60 minutes off the bench.

“I got on with it and put it (mouthguard) back in mid-play.’’

The mishap failed to diminish Crichton’s workrate and effort to defend his heart out admits a second-half surge from the Maroons.

20 of Crichton’s closest family and relatives flew to Melbourne for the match and in his Origin debut, the 22-year-old produced 32 tackles — finishing in the top four for NSW for most 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.

It was a golden night for the Blues rookies.

“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.’’

Flying from Melbourne to the Gold Coast for the Rabbitohs clash with the Titans tonight, Crichton said his desire to wrap-up the series in Sydney had never been greater than now.

“I said to Freddy (Brad Fittler) after the game ‘ I just want to play again now.’,’’ Crichton said.

“Danny Buderus said to me ‘yeah mate, it’s addictive — that’s what Boyd (Cordner) said to me also.

“I can’t imagine what Sydney will be like.

“That’s the goal, our next focus goes onto winning that game two and before that, me, Cooky (Damian Cook) and Gags (Dane Gagai) we’re off to the Gold Coast to do a job for Souths.’’

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Originally published as Blues rookie Angus Crichton’s tooth is somewhere on the MCG turf