Scan reveals England Lewis Moody is a doubt for World Cup

Lewis Moody's World Cup participation remains in serious doubt after a scan on his troublesome right knee today revealed he has strained his medial ligament.

The 33-year-old flanker, earmarked to captain England at next month's tournament in New Zealand, suffered a recurrence of the injury that forced him to miss the Six Nations during Saturday's 23-19 win over Wales.

Moody had a scan yesterday and results confirmed damage to his medial ligament, and despite an RFU statement claiming to be "optimistic of progress", he faces a race to be fit for England's World Cup opener against Argentina on September 10. He will definitely miss Saturday's return fixture at the Millennium Stadium and is highly unlikely to play in the final warm-up game against Ireland on August 29.

Scrum coach Graham Rowntree said: "It's too early to say if Lewis will be on the plane, we will see how he develops over the next few days. We'll know much more this time next week.

"On Saturday night Lewis was very optimistic and he was walking about the next day. That's a good sign. But it's still early days and it is a mild strain, not a bad one. Our medics have done fantastic things in the past so let's hope they do again. He's vital for us going forward because he has done great things in the past.

"Would Lewis be missed? Of course he would. But let's cross that bridge if we come to it."

Team manager Martin Johnson insisted yesterday he expected the prognosis on Moody to be "more good than bad" but refused to endorse him as his World Cup skipper. Moody played just three and a half games for Bath at the tail end of last season after first damaging his knee in January, although Rowntree today left the door ajar for him to travel to New Zealand with the injury.