Injured Moody to miss World Cup opener

England captain Lewis Moody will not play in the World Cup opener against Argentina after failing to recover from a knee injury in time for Saturday’s match in Dunedin.

The 33-year-old Moody suffered a recurrence of the ligament injury in England’s first World Cup warm-up game, against Wales at Twickenham on August 6.

Moody had injured the knee in January playing for Bath and missed all of the RBS 6 Nations, meaning he has played just 62 minutes of Test rugby this year.