Moody takes the blame for nasty injury
Joe Moody doesn’t blame Chiefs and All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick for ending his 2018 season last November.
Indeed it was Retallick’s thumb which plunged into Moody’s left-eye and split his eyelid, ensuring a visit to a plastic surgeon was in order after an All Blacks training session last November, but the Crusaders loosehead prop pins the blame on no-one but himself.
‘‘That was a bit of a niggly situation,’’ Moody said. ‘‘In fairness, it was my own fault. I buggered up the lineout movement. It split it clean in half, it was sort of like the curtains were open when my eye was shut.’’
Moody, who donned an eye-patch for a few days after having it stitched back together, remained on the northern tour but missed the tests against England, Ireland and Italy.
It was the latest in a horrid run of injuries to the 30-year-old last year, so it was no wonder All Blacks coach Steve Hansen at the time said: ‘‘Anyone else and it [thumb] would have probably missed."
Moody’s 2018 medical file is lengthy. Before the nasty eye injury, he had a delayed entry to Super Rugby due to major shoulder surgery, he busted a finger in a club game, injured a knee playing for the Crusaders, and then broke a thumb playing the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship.
Blurry vision hindered the All Blacks’ first-string loosehead for a while after the lineout misfire, but he made a long-awaited return to the paddock last Saturday night, when he played his first match since the third Bledisloe Cup test against the Wallabies in Yokohama last October.
It was no ordinary return. Moody had barely plonked his 122kg frame on the bench early in the second half of the away match against the Blues before he was shoulder tapped and instructed to fire up for a second dig. Having watched roommate and teammate Tim Perry break an arm, he trudged back onto Eden Park and ended up playing 73 minutes of his team’s 24-22 win against the Blues.
‘‘It was a hell of a shock to the system. I wasn’t expecting to get 73 odd minutes, but I feel for the old mate Tim Perry more than what I do for my lungs and legs.
‘‘I got subbed at 45 and thought my night was done. I just sort of sat down and got a few fluids on and I was back in the mixer again. You just have to embrace it. But at the same time, there is a second where you think, ‘oh, Tom Moody
you bastard’.’’
With frontline All Blacks restricted to 180 minutes over the first three weeks of the season, Moody’s extra minutes in round one mean the Crusaders will have to re-think their plan.
He will start against the Hurricanes at Christchurch Stadium on Saturday night, with Harry Allan providing cover off the bench. Perry had an operation on Thursday and it remains unclear when he will return.
‘‘You can have a plan and then you get an injury. Well, you’re not going to end the game with 14 players. Joey came off after [45] and he’s back on after 53, so it was a perfect plan until there is an issue to try and fix,’’ assistant coach Brad Mooar said.
Having re-entered the game against the Blues and helped the Crusaders’ pack earn a second penalty-try – via a scrum – Moody had some ominous words for the Hurricanes ahead of tonight’s home-opener.
‘‘Without sounding too cocky, we do rate our forward pack. It’s one of our strengths I feel, we’d like to try and put on a bit of a show on Saturday night.’’