Moody to lead England (From Western Telegraph)

Moody to lead England

1:36pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

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Lewis Moody will captain England against France on Saturday night after Steve Borthwick was ruled out with a knee injury.

Borthwick aggravated a long-standing problem in his left knee during England's 15-15 draw with Scotland last weekend and has failed to recover in time.

Louis Deacon will replace Borthwick in the second row, with Stade Francais lock Tom Palmer promoted to the bench.

England manager Martin Johnson said: "Lewis is an inspirational figure in the group and he will bring us that energy and dynamism.

"There is a core group of leaders and we could have chosen two or three guys. Mike Tindall has just come back as a senior player and Nick Easter is a leader at number eight.

"Steve's injury is worse than we first thought and he is out for us this week. Louis will start and Tom Palmer comes on to the bench.

"We brought him in because of his lineout ability."