2026-03-02 12:14:56
Lewis Moody knew of the risks that came with playing rugby.
The former England international – who helped his country to glory at the 2003 World Cup – was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) last year but admits that the joy of playing the sport outweighed any potential danger for him.
There has been no proven link between MND and rugby, but both former Scotland international Doddie Weir and ex-rugby league star Rob Burrow passed away as a result of the disease – a condition that damages nerves in the brain and spinal cord, which causes muscles to weaken and waste away.
Speaking in the new BBC documentary Ben Youngs Investigates: How Safe Is Rugby?, Moody said: “I do think I was very aware of the risks rugby presented, when you go and smash yourself into another human being week in week out, day in day out.
“I think I was acutely aware of the risks that come with injury and concussion, but I was happy that the reward and the joy of playing the sport far outweighed any of those.
“I enjoyed what I did so much that I was prepared to put up with that, and I would do again. I loved it… I absolutely loved it.”
Moody admits that it is an “easy assumption” to connect rugby to MND but he stressed that science points to multiple causes of the disease.
He said: “I don’t get frustrated by it.
“It is an easy assumption to make, because you have had a couple of high-profile rugby players with MND, that playing rugby makes you more likely to get MND. But that is not the truth.
“The only link and connection to MND and sport is around extreme exertion. There are research papers out there that talk about the connections. If you speak to the scientists or clinicians in this space, there are multiple reasons MND occurs. It’s not one thing.”
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