England rugby legend Lewis Moody holds back tears as he reveals MND diagnosis beside wife

England rugby legend Lewis Moody has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

The ex-England captain, 47, says he cannot yet face the reality of the condition that killed fellow rugby players Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir.

‘There’s something about looking the future in the face and not wanting to really process that at the minute,’ he told BBC Sport alongside his wife and the mother to his two sons, Annie.

‘It’s not that I don’t understand where it’s going. We understand that. But there is absolutely a reluctance to look the future in the face for now.

‘Maybe that’s shock or maybe I process things differently, and once I have the information, it’s easier.

‘You’re given this diagnosis of MND and we’re rightly quite emotional about it, but it’s so strange because I feel like nothing’s wrong.

‘I don’t feel ill. I don’t feel unwell. My symptoms are very minor. I have a bit of muscle wasting in the hand and the shoulder.

‘I’m still capable of doing anything and everything. And hopefully that will continue for as long as is possible.’

Moody was part of the England team that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and also won three Six Nations titles.

Nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’ due to his enthusiasm for the game and relentless style of play, Moody earned 71 England caps during his decade-long international career.

At club level, Moody won seven Premiership titles with boyhood club Leicester Tigers before finishing his career at Bath.

Speaking alongside his wife Annie, Moody said his diagnosis was discovered after he noticed weakness in his shoulder while training in the gym.

Physiotherapy failed to improve the problem and a series of scans showed nerves in his brain and spinal cord had been damaged by MND.

Moody said he has ‘never’ felt sadness for himself but understandably struggled telling his mum and two children the heartbreaking news.

Lewis and Annie have two sons, 17-year-old Dylan and 15-year-old Ethan.

‘It’s never me that I feel sad for,’ Moody said. ‘It’s the sadness around having to tell my mum – as an only child – and the implications that has for her.’

On breaking the news to his children, an emotional Moody added: ‘It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

‘They are two brilliant boys and that was pretty heartbreaking. We sat on the couch in tears, Ethan and Dylan both wrapped up in each other, then the dog jumped over and started licking the tears off our faces, which was rather silly.’

According to the charity MND Association, the disease kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis.

Leeds Rhinos and Great Britain rugby league great Rob Burrow lived with the condition for five years before passing away in 2019 at the age of 41.

Elite athletes are disproportionately affected by MND and a study of Italian footballers has suggested the rate of the disease is up to six times higher than in the general population.

‘There is no cure and that is why you have to be so militantly focused on just embracing and enjoying everything now,’ World Cup winner Moody said.

‘As Annie said, we’ve been really lucky that the only real decision I made when I retired from playing was to spend as much time with the kids as possible. We don’t get those years back.

‘It is daunting because I love being active and embracing life, whether it’s on the rugby pitch, watching the kids, whatever it is.

‘There’s a lot of questions around what we need to put in place for the future. It’s still so new, I found out two weeks ago.’

Moody came on as a replacement in the Rugby World Cup final win over Australia in 2003.

He told former England captain Martin Johnson and a couple of other former teammates about his diagnosis before going public with the tragic news.

‘There will be a time when we’ll need to lean on their support but, at the minute, just having that sort of love and acknowledgment that people are there is all that matters,’ he said.

‘Rugby is such a great community. I said to the kids the other day, I’ve had an incredible life.

‘Even if it ended now, I’ve enjoyed all of it and embraced all of it and got to do it with unbelievable people.’

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