Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

Skanky tooth pulled from head
By Laine Clark AAP

RUGBY league prop Ben Czislowski ran around for 15 weeks without knowing an opponent's tooth was buried in his forehead.

Ben Czislowski had a clash of heads with Tweed Heads forward Matt Austin during a Queensland Cup game on April 1.

He had the wound stitched up but was wondering why he felt lethargic, had an eye infection and had shooting pains in his head ever since.

Czislowski, a former Broncos and Bulldogs player in the NRL, visited his GP last week and all was revealed. "I can laugh about it now but the doctor told me it could have been serious with teeth carrying germs," Czislowski, 24, said. "I feel so lucky that the worst that I got out of it was that my head looked uglier than it does normally."

It's a bizarre story, so Czislowski has taken measures to ensure he is believed. "I've got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table," he said. "If he (Austin) wants it back he can have it. I'm keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened. "It's a story I can tell for the rest of my life. It will get a bit more exaggerated over the years, but it's a good laugh."

The tooth's removal has had an immediate effect on Czislowski's on-field form - he was the driving force behind Wynnum's 38-16 Queensland Cup win over Central at Rockhampton on the weekend.

"A lot of the boys have been giving it to me, saying I was using it (embedded tooth) as an excuse for my poor form but my eye looks a thousand times better already and I feel a lot better," he said.

Czislowski is not the only rugby league player to have been left with an unlikely souvenir by an opponent.

In 2004, Australian hooker Shane Millard also had a foe's fang removed from his head while playing for Widnes in the English competition.

Two years earlier, Australian Jamie Ainscough's arm became so badly infected while playing for Wigan in England there were fears it would be amputated before the source was discovered. Yep, a rival's tooth.