Business as usual for Moody as he prepares to lead the way

Lewis Moody will enjoy the proudest moment of his England career tonight when he captains his country against grand slam-chasing France in Paris.

The Leicester flanker was given the honour after Steve Borthwick, who had captained England for 20 consecutive Test matches, was ruled out with a knee injury.

Borthwick aggravated a long-standing "wear and tear" problem in England's 15-15 draw with Scotland last weekend and failed to recover, despite spending two days with his left leg in a brace.

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Louis Deacon has replaced Borthwick in the second row, while former Leeds lock Tom Palmer, who last played for England in 2008 and is now with Stade Francais, has been preferred to Courtney Lawes on the bench because of his lineout expertise.

Moody has limited captaincy experience with Leicester and the prospect of leading his country had not occurred to him until Borthwick's injury proved to be worse than initially feared.

"You don't get asked to captain your country very often," said Moody. "Without doubt it will be the proudest moment in my England career.

"To be asked under whatever circumstance to captain your country is a huge honour. What a day, it will be amazing."

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Moody has not always been obvious captaincy material. During the early years of his career his biggest failing was playing too much with his heart and not enough with his head.

Now 31, Moody is a smarter player. After 14 years at the top he believes he has gained enough knowledge and experience to be able to make the important calls when the pressure is on tonight.

But Moody remains a tearaway and he vowed that instinctive style would not change just because he is captain.

"I think for me the most important part of being a captain is to play the game the way I do," he said.

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"It will not change me. I will just play the way I do. If you play the game long enough you hope you can make the right decisions in those key situations. If you play long enough you get a feel for things, and I have experienced players around me like Nick Easter and Mike Tindall."

Johnson admitted he could just as easily have chosen Easter or Tindall but he opted for Moody, a former team-mate for club and country, because of a "gut feel".

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