{"id":231482,"date":"2025-10-29T05:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/231482\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T05:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:45:10","slug":"england-announce-plan-to-award-lewis-moody-major-honour-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/231482\/","title":{"rendered":"England announce plan to award Lewis Moody &#8216;major honour&#8217; this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lewis Moody will deliver the match ball ahead of England\u2019s clash with Australia at Twickenham on Saturday \u2013 a moment carrying extra poignance after the 47-year-old revealed earlier this month that he has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/channel\/AbYd2l05pp1bM_Ix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Join RUCK\u2019s Instagram broadcast channel <\/a>and get the latest rugby news straight to your phone.<\/p>\n<p>The news stunned the rugby world, prompting an outpouring of support from across the game for the former England flanker who helped his country lift the Rugby World Cup in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the honour, the Ascot-born great said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was one of my life\u2019s greatest pleasures to play for England. More importantly, I loved the privilege of doing it alongside some of the most competitive, loyal, committed and hardworking individuals I have ever met.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose bonds and values feel stronger than ever to me today as a new challenge presents itself and the love and support of this special community embraces us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be an honour to carry the match ball out on Saturday as a new generation of warriors get set to pull on the jersey and make us proud. My family and I are truly grateful to all the players, England Rugby and Rugby Australia for all their kindness and support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moody\u2019s club career was defined by his ferocious competitiveness. Between 1996 and 2010, he made 223 appearances for Leicester Tigers, scoring 165 points, before joining Bath for two seasons and adding another 35 matches to his name.<\/p>\n<p>Join the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3s8fWrj\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RUCK\u2019s WhatsApp community here<\/a>\u00a0and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.<\/p>\n<p>On the international stage, Moody won 71 England caps from 2001 to 2011, claiming three Six Nations titles, a Grand Slam, two Triple Crowns and that unforgettable World Cup triumph in Sydney. He also represented the British and Irish Lions on five occasions in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Since sharing his diagnosis, Moody has spoken movingly of the rugby family\u2019s support. Addressing fans at Welford Road earlier this month, he said the sport\u2019s enduring spirit and unity have given him strength:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRugby Union is great at times like this. They have their arms around you in an embrace and I certainly feel that love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>EDITORS PICKS:<\/p>\n<p>NAME ENGLAND\u2019S 2003 WORLD CUP-WINNING SQUAD<\/p>\n<p>The England team were dubbed \u2018Dad\u2019s Army\u2019 by the rest of the world (mainly Australians) but everyone secretly knew England coach Clive Woodward had the best side around.<\/p>\n<p>This quiz tests your knowledge of that heralded group of 22 players who took on and beat the Wallabies in their own backyard on November 22, 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Some of these are significantly\u00a0easier than others.<\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Moody will deliver the match ball ahead of England\u2019s clash with Australia at Twickenham on Saturday \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-231482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}