Ireland winger James Lowe and former international backrow Seán O’Brien have expressed sympathy for former England captain Lewis Moody after he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND).
The 47-year-old, who played club rugby with Leicester and Bath, is the latest former athlete to be diagnosed with the disease.
Lowe described the news as “sad”, adding: “Poor dude, poor family. You hate to see it, don’t you? Fingers crossed there’s a cure that comes around and if there’s anything that they need from the Irish rugby community, I’m sure we’re all going to be hands on deck because it sucks.
“Such a prolific player. Photos of him and Drico (Brian O’Driscoll) I saw before heading into the Six Nations, you’re just like, ‘how can’ . . . so unfortunate.”
RM Block
According to the MND Association, there is a “correlation” between contact sports and the disease. It added that while the athletes studied were more likely to develop MND than the average person, it has not been proven that the sports directly caused the condition.
There is no cure but drugs such as Tofersen have been found to slow down the disease, although it only works effectively in half of the patients who take it.
O’Brien, now part of the Leinster coaching staff, contacted Moody on Monday.
He said: “Lewis Moody . . . do you kind of go, ‘oh my God, another one?’ I don’t think it’s just rugby.
“But yeah, obviously the way he (Moody) played the game was more old school, starting out with Leicester. It was a brawl every day over there, by all accounts.
“I’d say it’s 100 per cent better [now]. Even since I’ve come back after I finished up and retired, I’ve never seen anything that would have gone on in our day at training.
“So, rugby has definitely changed a lot and moves on very quickly. It’s unfortunate for Lewis and [his] family and everyone.”
Lowe added that although the smart mouthguards and closer attention paid to head injuries in the modern game can be frustrating for players, it is worth the inconvenience.
“I think technology is probably the best thing,” he said. “The mouthguards and everything like that can be a bit of a pain in the arse, I’m not going to lie.
“But if it can stop a few people with a few head bangs, a few delayed onset concussions . . . At the end of the day, you only get one brain.
“You can do all the bones and hamstrings off the bone, hamstrings and muscles and tendons, but they haven’t figured out how to fix the head yet, so better safe than sorry.”
