Rugby player has finger bitten clean off by an member of the opposition in grisly attack
Daniel Contreras fell to the floor in a ruck and stood up to see his finger had been chomped straight off
A RUGBY player had the top of his finger bitten off by a rival player during a match in a grisly attack.
The horrific incident happened during a ruck in a regional tournament match between Corsarios de Tucuman and Aguara Guazu in the Argentine city of Tucuman.
The victim of the brutal attack was 39-year-old Daniel Contreras, who plays for Corsarios de Tucuman.
He can be seen in images showing the bloody stump of one of the fingers of his left hand, the top of which is missing.
The altercation happened during a scrum, with Contreras describing how he felt he was being bitten.
When he had a chance to look he saw that a part of his finger was missing, before one of his shocked teammates pointed it out to him.
He says he confronted the aggressor asking him why he did it, but got no answer.
He told a local newspaper: "He did it on purpose, but I don't understand why. I was with my daughters and my wife which is why I did not react. The referee saw me and told me to get medical attention immediately.
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"In the 29 years I've been playing rugby I have never seen anything like it, I could not believe it."
At hospital the doctors gave the player a skin graft to reconstruct the missing bit of his finger.
He actually recovered the missing piece of his hand but doctors could not put it back on as it had been in mud where bacteria would have infected it.
Contreras added: "They told me I will have to wait at least three months before the finger will go back to looking more normal."
After the violent incident the local Rugby Union issued a press statement saying: "The Tucuman Rugby Union violently condemns the aggression that a Corsarios club player suffered in the game against Aguara Guaza.
"Acts such as these have no relation with the spirit nor the values that define our sport, for this reason we affirm that they should not exists and should be eradicated.
"For this reason the Union will take the corresponding measures and act accordingly."