New Zealand and Crusaders loosehead prop Joe Moody has overcome his injury issues and revealed that he still wants to play at next year’s Rugby World Cup in France.
Moody suffered a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury during the Crusaders’ Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Blues in Christchurch in April and has been working hard to return to full fitness.
The 34-year-old has struggled with several injuries in recent years and that, and his age, led to his critics questioning whether he would represent his country again.
Keen to bounce back
But that hasn’t affected Moody, who is still determined to play at international level again.
“One-hundred per cent, that’s been in the back of my mind the whole time I’ve been rehabbing, and that’s part of the reason why I was as vigilant as I have been and making sure that I was doing things right,” Moody told Stuff.
“Because that is my goal for 2023. I want to be in the World Cup squad. I want to be the best Joe Moody that you’ve ever seen. I just want to be in great state, that’s definitely been the goal.”
Moody has been hampered by injuries in recent years and apart from his knee injuries, he has also been sidelined for lengthy periods with an eye injury, shoulder surgery and broken fingers.
He only played six Super Rugby Pacific matches in 2022 and last season he injured his foot during a scrum in his 100th match for the Crusaders against the Hurricanes, just five games into the season.
Despite being sidelined for the past eight months, Moody can’t wait to return to action.
“Honestly, the knee is no issue. It’s going really well,” he said. “It’s just the rest of the rig telling me that I’m back into it now.”
However, he wasn’t familiar with knee injuries when he was forced off the field late in the first half in that match against the Blues and was not aware of the seriousness of his situation.
“I just thought maybe it was a bit of a tweak and I might have had a week or a fortnight [off],” he revealed. “Then, when they told me it was a nine-month setup, she was a bit of a shock to the system.
“A different experience. To be honest, it’s probably one of the worst injuries I’ve had as far as rehabbing goes. But I’ve ticked the boxes and done everything properly, so I think it’s in a pretty good state now.”
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It helped that he was not alone while doing his rehabilitation as Crusaders lock Mitchell Dunshea was also recovering after rupturing his medial collateral ligament and Ethan Blackadder would join the casualty list with a dislocated shoulder later on.
“One day at a time, I guess,” Moody said of the process.
Focused on recovery
“Honestly, just get up and focus on what I’ve got to get done. I never really got too worried or down on things.
“Just always looking forward to the end result, knowing I had to tick things off properly; otherwise I wouldn’t come out the other end in the state I needed to.”