Rugby:England captain Lewis Moody will be given every chance to prove his fitness for the Rugby World Cup after suffering a mild ligament strain in his right knee.
His leadership is considered ‘vital’ by the England management as “vital” and they have not ruled out naming him in their final 30-man squad on August 22nd, even if he is not 100% fit. The Bath flanker, who is wearing a heavy-duty knee brace, was injured when 18-stone team-mate Tom Palmer fell on his leg during England’s 23-19 World Cup warm-up win against Wales last Saturday.
Moody will definitely not play in the reverse fixture at the Millennium Stadium this weekend and no target date has been set for his return to action. But the England medics are “optimistic of his progress” and scrum coach Graham Rowntree confirmed the squad need Moody involved at the World Cup if possible.
“Is it realistic he will be on the plane (to the World Cup)? It is too early to say with that injury,” said Rowntree. “We will give him the time he needs. He is vital for us going forward. He has led from the front, led with energy and the guys respect him for that. He is doing a great job.
“We will see how he develops over the next few days. Our medics are fantastic here, they have worked wonders before. It is a mild strain, not a bad strain, which gives us hope. We don’t have a hard and fast rule (about taking injured players).
“It won’t be the first World Cup squad to potentially take players who are injured; but those kinds of decisions we’ll make nearer the time when we know how the injury has settled down. The way he has trained and the way he has led the standards in training, the way he has led the group, it is not like he has been out for eight months.
“He is exceptionally fit, keen and raring to go. He is in very good nick and was going well until he was taken off the field at the weekend. On Saturday night he was optimistic he would get better and he was walking about the day after, which is always a good sign in my book. Would he be missed? Of course he would, but let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”
