Lewis Moody won a Grand Slam, a World Cup and captained his country – yet even he still gets star-struck when meeting his heroes.
For the former England flanker it was the dominant England side of the early 1990s that he grew up watching, and despite not being from a huge rugby family, his boyhood idols all walked the hallowed turf at Twickenham.
CARLING AND THE BACK ROW
Originally a centre, Moody looked up to the man he would later succeed, Will Carling, while also admiring the fearsome back-row trio of Peter Winterbottom, Mickey Skinner and Mike Teague.
And it was as an up-and-coming rugby player that Carling had a huge influence on the young Moody.
He recalls: “Will Carling was my hero. He’d started as captain so young and I remember meeting him at a festival at Redingensians when I was playing for Bracknell minis.
“I knew he was going to be there and I had a piece of paper with his photo on it which he signed for me and I’ve still got it at home.
“He wrote: ‘To Lewis, best wishes, Will Carling’. You sometimes forget as sportsmen how important those little moments are, and can be.
“I remembered that, and remembered it during my playing days so I spoke to everyone who ever wanted to speak to me or gave them a signature or photo, because it can be so impactful.
“More recently I had the great pleasure of meeting a number of the players I looked up to at the Auld Enemy dinner on the Calcutta Cup weekend. I met Teague, Wints and Skinner together for the first time ever, it was such an awesome moment. Carling might have been my hero but I’d watched those guys together.
“I had the Munch’s [Mickey Skinner] Big Hits video, they were so inspirational. You forget a little bit during your career but afterwards you reflect on your childhood so to see those guys together was a wicked experience for me.
“It was fascinating listening to them chat, reflecting on old stories. It was a boyhood dream. Hearing they still organise dinners together and that the bond still exists to this day was nice to know.
“We fanboy as much as anyone else about meeting your heroes. It doesn’t make any difference what you have achieved, your heroes are still your heroes.
“People say never meet your heroes, but it certainly wasn’t the case for me with Will or the back-row boys. It was more enjoyable because you got to see the little idiosyncrasies of their characters and you could envisage how it worked back in the day.” RETURNING TO TWICKENHAM While he was not from a rugby family, Moody did get the chance to travel to Twickenham in 1992 to watch his first Championship game, a clash between England and Wales.
A decade later he got his first Championship start on the hallowed turf in south west London for the senior side, against Wales – a dream he was determined to fulfil.
Moody recalls: “I remember going with my dad to the old Twickenham and watched an England v Wales game and I remember to this day dad asking if I’d enjoyed it and whether I wanted to come back.
“I told him: ‘I loved it, I want to come back but I’m only going to come back when I’m playing.’ It sounds like an arrogant statement but I wasn’t an arrogant young man by any stretch – it just showed the confidence I had and that I loved rugby that much that I would do anything I could to get back as a player.
“That experience as a 14-year-old, sat in the stands, galvanised it and it was an awesome experience.
“My first game in the Championship was Ireland away at Lansdowne Road [in 2002] in front of a packed house. I was terrified but my teammates were great and Martin Corry took me under his wing. I had so much nervous energy that by the time I came on as a replacement, my legs were like lead. Speed was always something that was so natural to me but I felt like I was running in mud.
“It was a fascinating experience and I’m glad it was away. It meant that when I had that first start at Twickenham against Wales, which was just as daunting, I wasn’t quite as nervous.
“You get onto the pitch and all you can hear is noise and there is colour everywhere. I don’t remember anything of the national anthem, I just remember the first kick-off came to us and I can’t remember if someone let it bounce but it ended up in my hands and I was straight into the game. It was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
GRAND SLAM FRUSTRATIONS AND TAKING ON TEAMMATES England’s holy trinity of Richard Hill, Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio cemented their place in history during the 2003 World Cup, but it could have been very different.
For Moody it’s a case of what might have been after he started the opening game of the 2003 Championship, only for injury to cut short his campaign after just 20 minutes.
He said: “One of the most frustrating ones for me is the 2003 Championship, I was picked to start ahead of Lawrence Dallaglio at six.
“I’d just come back from a shoulder injury, having started the autumn games. I was in the form of my life, having had the shoulder operation and come back.
“I started the game and it was brilliant and then 20 minutes in I did the same shoulder again. That ended my campaign and from a frustration point of view, you never knew what might have happened. Had I continued my form would I have started at the World Cup? Who knows?
“I was at the peak of my playing powers so to have it taken away through injury was very frustrating. But then again, I was fortunate to get back in time to be part of that World Cup squad so there was a downside and an upside. That stays with you.
“From the positive point of view, the boys went on and won the Grand Slam, to be a part of that was very special.”
As much as the matches, it is the opponents who stick with Moody. Whether it was the battles with Martyn Williams for Wales and Cardiff Blues, or his Leicester Tigers teammates Martin Castrogiovanni and Geordan Murphy, those bonds remain forever.
He added: “The most fun thing was coming up against your club colleagues. So for me, I lived with Geordan Murphy for five years and we only played against each other three or four times but it made it more ferocious.
“He was a full-back so we would put bombs up and I’d try to get to him as he caught it so I could welcome him. You had Martin Castrogiovanni as well who was a long-time teammate.
“So it makes it more enjoyable when you have club teammates there, you know what annoys them and how to wind them up. Then there’s the bond afterwards. You have the shake of the hand after the game and the ultimate sign of respect.” CAPTAINCY AND RETIREMENT By 2010, Moody had gone from a young buck to an experienced head in the England dressing room, earning the captaincy from former teammate and then coach Martin Johnson.
“My first game as captain was France away in 2010. We’d not had a great Championship but we played well (narrowly losing 12-10),” he said.
“I was very emotional in the huddle. Thankfully there were enough senior players around me who were able to take over while I composed myself momentarily. It was a special day.
“Being asked to captain my country by one of my heroes in Martin Johnson was incredible. If anything I wish I’d been asked to be captain earlier because you learn so much and it would have been good to have the time to evolve as a captain.”
Retirement followed sooner than expected, and Moody now spends most NatWest 6 Nations days in a hospitality tent at Twickenham, admitting it is difficult to watch in the stands.
He added: “I tend not to venture into the stadium because I find it very frustrating almost. It reminds me that I can’t do what I want to do anymore. So I keep at an arm’s length in a hospitality marquee with other people.
“Twickenham is still one of those places that I feel I’m thrown into an environment that doesn’t exist for me anymore.
“I feel I become someone that I was, rather than someone that I am. Of course I love people coming up and chatting and asking for photos, it’s incredibly humbling but I’m fairly quiet chap living a normal life these days so when you’re thrown back into it, it’s very bizarre. It makes me miss it so I prefer to stay on the outside.”
