I had just returned from my usual walk past the Cape Town Stadium, along the promenade and back through Green Point Park, when I received a ‘whatsapp’ message from John, one of my sons. He said that he was at a work event, where one of the guest speakers was Lewis Moody. He wanted to know if I had that photo of him with Lewis Moody at a Milk Marketing Board event, sponsoring the England Rugby team, when they had a World Cup training camp at Pennyhill Park in Camberley. John was one of the invited mini rugby players from their school, Lyndhurst.
Et voilà.
Lewis Moody was born in 1978 in Ascot and played mini-rugby until the age of 11, at Eagle House in Bracknell, near Camberley. He joined Leicester Tigers and played his first league game at the age of 18, in 1996.
He was selected for England from 2001-2011, where he scored 9 tries, plus one for the British & Lions in their New Zealand tour of 2005. He was a member of the English team that won the World Cup in 2003. He remained with Leicester until 2010, when he moved to Bath. He retired in 2012.
John must have shown the old photo to Lewis for they staged an updated version, with Lewis looking at John and John leaning on his shoulder, sipping champagne.
A careful observer might notice that, twenty years later, both now wear wedding rings!
The Irish Rover 