A man who may have gone on to play rugby for his country has been awarded compensation of £80,000 after an injury and a subsequent misdiagnosis cut his career short.

The unnamed man, now 23, suffered a scaphoid fracture to his wrist during a game when he was 16. Although he was taken to hospital in North Devon, medics failed to spot the injury and told him to simply rest.

By the time the fracture was spotted by a GP five months later, further damage had been done and the victim needed a bone graft and three operations.

He lost his chance to play rugby professionally and still suffers from pain in his wrist.

The man decided to pursue a compensation claim because the hospital should have offered an X-ray a week after the accident in order to make sure there was no scaphoid fracture present.

In a new development, the hospital has agreed that it was negligent in not calling him back for further treatment and agreed to a payout of £80,000.

According to Arthroscopy.com, scaphoid fractures must be treated relatively quickly because pieces of broken bone, which are loose inside the wrist joint, will eventually cause a deterioration of the wrist joint called traumatic arthritis if the injury is left.