Lewis 'Mad Dog' Moody - Guest star

Breaking my ankle last month was a massive blow after spending ten months out of rugby with a hip injury previously. I’d been playing well and was looking forward to having what I hoped would be a big role in the current Six Nations championships. 
I was so upset about it that, momentarily, I even thought about quitting the sport. Luckily, there’s been a lot happening in the past few weeks off the field that have occupied my mind, some of which not exactly planned.
For a start my baby son, Dylan, who is fast approaching his first birthday, has had conjunctivitis, gastro-enteritis and tonsillitis in the past three weeks, and kindly handed on the conjunctivitis to me, and the tonsillitis to my wife, Annie, who was already looking after him and a husband who couldn’t do a thing for the first fortnight after the injury.

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I’ve been able to do a few things playing rugby would normally prevent me from doing. I appeared on Soccer AM, for example, on Sky Sports, alongside my fellow injured openside flanker, Tom Rees, former football legend John Barnes, newsreader Dermot Murnaghan and the band, The View. I introduced myself to Dermot and he replied: “I know who you are, big man,” which is not the usual way people introduce themselves!

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When I sat on the studio sofa Helen Chamberlain, the presenter, announced that Austin Healey had contacted the programme to warn them that I swear a lot. As it turned out the lead singer from The View used the “F” word in his first few words, made worse because in an otherwise indecipherable sentence due to his strong Scottish accent, the “F” word was the only one we all understood. I also got to take a penalty outside the studio which was not a bad effort considering I shot using my wrong, left foot, and did it whilst balancing on crutches. I’m not sure I could have fared any better with a mended right foot.

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Danny Hipkiss, my fellow Leicester Tiger and England teammate, volunteered to be my chauffeur during the first two weeks of my injury but this did not exactly work out. Like everywhere else in the country south Leicestershire was hit by heavy snow and when Danny left his house to fetch me he managed to make 100 metres before becoming stuck in the snow. His car would be abandoned for the next two days. 
During this period of recuperation I’ve been working on my testimonial year I share with Leicester and Ireland’s Geordan Murphy. We’ll be auctioning a meal, for example, cooked personally by Jean-Christophe Novelli, and we’ve also got a concert at Kilworth House where Lucie Silvas and Judy Tzuke (“Stay With Me Till Dawn”) will be performing. You may wonder how we managed to get two such accomplished and successful female singers, but it helps when the former is married to Geordan, and the latter is Annie’s step-mother.

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Talking of concerts Red Bull, who sponsor me, took me to see Coldplay at The O2 Arena, which was brilliant. In fact, in the past nine months, I’ve also been a guest at the Red Bull Air Race in London, and at the British Grand Prix, where I watched the team race from the garage and the pits.

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I’ve also been working with one of my chosen charities, Hope HIV, having had an eye-opening experience last year when I visited Kenya and met many HIV orphans. Closer to home I’ve been helping out at my old school, Oakham, with their Social Entrepreneurs Project.

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I’ve let my hair down once since injury, and it led to an embarrassing conclusion which Annie reminds me on a daily basis. I’ve been a big fan of American Football for as long as I can remember, and was very excited to be hosting a small Superbowl Party last month at my house. Leon Lloyd, the former Leicester and England centre came along, as did Mr Hipkiss and Mitch Read, who used to play on the wing for the Tigers. Mitch and Leon turned up in full American football gear, helmets included, and produced a “play” on the street outside my front door. We had nachos and dips and hot dogs and Budweiser and started drinking games at certain points of the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. 
The next thing we knew it was morning. Leon, Danny and Mitch had passed out on beds upstairs, and I woke to find myself on the sofa. None of us had any idea who’d won, let alone witnessed the most exciting finale to a Superbowl ever. 
We were, it is fair to say, feeling rather small as Annie rolled about laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation and Leon, Mitch and Danny sloped off home. After that episode I reckon it’s going to be a good thing to get back to playing rugby, and not just from a sporting point of view.�

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Watch Lewis' video shout to Sportsvibe here.