Brad Barritt has been labelled 'The Terminator' after undergoing surgery on a fractured cheekbone only five days before Saracens' Champions Cup quarterfinal against Leinster.
Sean Maitland made the comparison to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie character after his club captain played on against Harlequins last Saturday despite being elbowed, incurring the damage to the left side of his face.
Barritt eventually left the field with a neck issue before later discovering that he had suffered an additional injury of more pressing concern that required a 100-mile round trip to Farnborough for surgery.
"I had a small plate put in my cheek and thankfully it will be OK for Sunday. The marvels of modern science meant that they could do it under local anaesthetic," Barritt said.
"The risk of the general would be the ill-effects can be four to five days of being a little groggy and a little lethargic, and also the potential implications of the medicine and the pipes going down into your chest.
"It was much like a routine tooth operation. I had a horizontal crack in my cheekbone so I have had a titanium plate put in there which I'm told is now stronger than the other side.
"It was a pretty surreal experience but I have had a lot more painful things in my day. It purely felt like a sore tooth.
"It is not what pulled me off in the game. I just had a recurrence of a neck injury I'd had earlier in the season. I only realised it was fractured later that evening when I blew my nose and it inflated.
"Leinster in the Champions Cup quarters is not a game you want to miss and I was very confident of going into the full session we had today [Wednesday]. I'm feeling great.
"My family are actually quite used to it now. My wife doesn't even bother trying to talk about it. She understands how it works. My son thinks it's quite fun to play with it.
"Regardless, I was going to play whether the plate was put in or not."