England’s prospective World Cup captain, Lewis Moody, has admitted that he thought his place on the plane in New Zealand at the end of this month might have gone when he twisted his knee in the warm-up victory over Wales.
The 2005 British & Irish Lion was hurt in an innocuous incident when team mate Tom Palmer fell on him in the second half of England’s 23-19 victory at Twickenham.
Moody, who missed the whole of England’s victorious RBS 6 Nations campaign earlier in year through injury, had to be helped off my two members of the England medical team to raise fears he may have to miss the 2011 World Cup tournament as well.
But in his column in the Mail Online sports section the Bath back rower was quick to ally fears of a lengthy lay-off.
“I could have walked off the pitch at the end, but the England medics like to look after you and both of them insisted on helping me, so don’t read anything into the way I went off,” claimed Moody.
“I don’t believe this injury is anything more than a tweak of the knee. I may have a scan, because that is standard procedure when you leave the field, but the medical team have told me not to read anything into that.
“When it happened, I did think: ‘Oh no, my World Cup might be over.’ But as the time went on, relief set in and by the time I got back to the dressing room I was moving normally and realised it was not as bad as I first thought.
“Even if there is a slight strain to the medial ligament, I believe it will be the lowest grade — we won’t know for certain for 48 hours. We won’t get a clear image until that long after the game.
“It’s almost impossible to get a definitive prognosis at this stage, except when it is very serious. I believe it is nothing more than a tweak.
“My injury, though, pales into insignificance when you see a guy like Morgan Stoddart and the very serious leg injury he suffered — a double fracture. The hearts of everyone in the England squad go out to Morgan and we all wish him a speedy recovery.”
The Scarlets full back went down early in the second half and faces a lengthy break from the game after hi career threatening injury.
