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Moody out of England's Cup opener
Source: Agencies |
September 6, 2011, Tuesday
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ENGLAND captain Lewis Moody has failed to recover from a knee injury and will miss his side's opening World Cup match against Argentina in Dunedin on Saturday, manager Martin Johnson has said.
"Lewis won't play at the weekend," Johnson told reporters yesterday. "It was quite a simple decision to hold him back another week."
Moody damaged knee ligaments playing for Bath in January and originally thought it was only a minor problem but, after breaking down again when coming off the bench for his club in February, missed the entire Six Nations campaign. He was replaced as captain by centre Mike Tindall with Tom Wood performing impressively at openside flanker.
Moody returned for England for its warmup matches in August, but limped off after 60 minutes in its 23-19 victory over Wales at Twickenham on August 9.
The Rugby Football Union described it at the time as a mild ligament strain.
Moody was named as squad captain for the World Cup, which begins on Friday when hosts New Zealand play Tonga at Eden Park, though Johnson said the openside flanker was not quite ready to return to action.
"He's not a million miles away, it's just one of those calls," Johnson added. "Is he ready to play a big test match this week? Not quite."
After the Argentina clash, England faces Georgia on September 18.
Australia meanwhile will go into the World Cup with the youngest squad of all 20 countries while Ireland has the oldest. The average ages for squads from France, South Africa, England and New Zealand are 28.
Due to its youth, Australia also has the least amount of players backing up from the 2007 tournament, with only eight. Defending champion South Africa has 18 and New Zealand 13.
"Lewis won't play at the weekend," Johnson told reporters yesterday. "It was quite a simple decision to hold him back another week."
Moody damaged knee ligaments playing for Bath in January and originally thought it was only a minor problem but, after breaking down again when coming off the bench for his club in February, missed the entire Six Nations campaign. He was replaced as captain by centre Mike Tindall with Tom Wood performing impressively at openside flanker.
Moody returned for England for its warmup matches in August, but limped off after 60 minutes in its 23-19 victory over Wales at Twickenham on August 9.
The Rugby Football Union described it at the time as a mild ligament strain.
Moody was named as squad captain for the World Cup, which begins on Friday when hosts New Zealand play Tonga at Eden Park, though Johnson said the openside flanker was not quite ready to return to action.
"He's not a million miles away, it's just one of those calls," Johnson added. "Is he ready to play a big test match this week? Not quite."
After the Argentina clash, England faces Georgia on September 18.
Australia meanwhile will go into the World Cup with the youngest squad of all 20 countries while Ireland has the oldest. The average ages for squads from France, South Africa, England and New Zealand are 28.
Due to its youth, Australia also has the least amount of players backing up from the 2007 tournament, with only eight. Defending champion South Africa has 18 and New Zealand 13.
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