Moody to miss New Zealand tour
Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:01
Flank Lewis Moody will miss England's tour of New Zealand in June after being ruled out of action for the rest of the Northern Hemisphere season with a ruptured achilles tendon.
The Leicester forward suffered the injury during England's defeat by Wales in the opening match of this year's Six Nations tournament and a consultation with a Swedish specialist has confirmed his worst fears.
"The specialist told me I'm going to be out for 16 weeks, which means I won't play for the rest of the season," Moody told Britain's Press Association.
"I'm absolutely devastated. I've had my Achilles scraped, which is basically where all the loose scar tissue is cleared out. I've got a 50 percent rupture of the tendon.
"I'm really, really disappointed, not so much because I'll miss England's tour to New Zealand this summer, but because Leicester are in the EDF Energy Cup Final, and I can't imagine them not also being in the League final too.
"Every game you miss is a game you can never get back."
When fit, Moody is a first-choice member of the England pack and was one of the side's outstanding performers during last year's World Cup, in which England lost in the Final (6-15) to South Africa.
England are due to play two Tests against the All Blacks, in Auckland on June 14 and in Christchurch on June 21.
