Knights backrower Kai Pearce-Paul was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery on Saturday night following an injury that his coach Adam O’Brien has compared to “a shark bite”.

Pearce-Paul went down in the 33rd minute following a tackle after a rogue stud from a teammate split his shin open and caused a 15cm gash.

“I just saw a photo of it then and it nearly made me crook, it’s awful,” O’Brien said in his post-match press conference.

“He’s in surgery now. It’s not like a soft tissue injury or a bone break or anything, but it’s pretty big.

“It’s like a shark bite at the moment, it’s huge.

“He’s at the hospital now.”

Newcastle skipper Kalyn Ponga was on the field when it happened and provided more details on his teammate’s gruesome injury.

“He got split, a stud, like, cut him open,” Ponga said.

The Knights confirmed that Pearce-Paul is confident it was stud rather than a protruding sprinkler head at Accor Stadium.

Fox League sideline reporter Matt Russell covered the game and described the injury as a “wicked gash”.

“His leg flapped open like a hot dog bun,” Russell said.

Newcastle won the clash 36-16 to keep their slim finals hopes alive and remarkably Pearce-Paul is still considered a chance to face the Titans next week.

The Knights are just one win outside the top eight and praying for a Dragons loss after skipper Kalyn Ponga produced two dazzling plays in the space of 60 seconds to keep their finals hopes alive.

They are now up to 26 points and are level with three other teams just a win behind the Red V who they hope will lose to the Sharks.

Newcastle’s points differential is poor but they finish the year with home games against the Titans and Dolphins as they look to steal eighth spot.

And they can thank Ponga for seeing off the Rabbitohs after he broke their hearts in the second half with a big break off a kick return before he sliced through again and set up Jack Cogger for the first of his two second-half tries.

The Knights will be without their back-rowers next week but Blues star Bradman Best is a chance of returning from a hamstring injury, with both of their centres scoring strong tries on Saturday night.

“I’ll talk to the medical staff. They’ll need to clear him over the next couple of days,” O’Brien said.

“I wouldn’t say ‘no’, but I can’t say ‘yes’ until he goes through all the medical protocols.”