from Natwest Rugby
Moody joins forces with stunt driver Terry Grant and motorcyclist Lee Bowers to create a Guinness World Record™
Greatest Speed Differential between the Throw and Catch of a Rugby Ball
As all eyes hone in on rugby, former England captain Lewis Moody and long term partner of England Rugby and the WRU, NatWest, have taken the art of the interception to new speeds – and set an official Guinness World Record™ along the way.
Moody acted as an advisor on the stunt, working with renowned stunt driver Terry Grant and motorcyclist Lee Bowers to coach Lee of performing a pass, which was required to pull off the record.
As the players are about to complete their next pass – already an impressive feat from the precariously balanced cars – stunt rider Lee Bowers bursts on to the scene, takes to his feet on the seat of the motorbike to ride between the cars and plucks the ball from the air before riding off and touching down over a try-line lit in flames.
On helping create the record, Lewis commented: “I thought I had seen just about everything possible in rugby but working with these stunt men travelling at such speeds and pulling off the pass at real pace is definitely something new for rugby!
“NatWest is part and parcel of grassroots, community rugby through RugbyForce so for them to build on that with something so daring and cutting edge is hugely entertaining and I am sure it will inspire many new fans to get involved in the game.”
Rhidian Taylor, Head of Brand, Advertising & Sponsorship at NatWest added: “This year has been a big one for rugby and through The World’s Fastest Interception and the Flying Winger content, we hope to inspire new people into the game as players, supporters and volunteers.
“Through our sponsorships of England Rugby and the WRU and our NatWest RugbyForce programmes we have supported over 1,000 local clubs and we hope this will help inspire even more success.”
The Fastest Interception is the second of two unique rugby moments that NatWest have created to inspire fans to get behind rugby. For more information and to stay updated, follow @NatWest_Rugby on twitter or like NatWest Rugby on Facebook.
Also here are Lewis Moody’s thoughts ahead of the Rugby World Cup final…
Who do you think will win and why?
In my opinion, I think you’d be insane to argue against New Zealand because they’ve just been so good for so many years. Their continuity, their offload, their skillset, the individual playmakers they have within in their team are just all so good. They play a wonderful style of rugby and they are so consistently able to win those close and tough games. However in recent times, certainly in The Rugby Championship, Australia’s successes in the last 6 months will give them a lot of confidence because they know that they can go into this match and beat New Zealand. I still don’t think they’ll do it because this NZ side is just slightly too good but at least it will mean that we’ll have a wonderful final.
What will it be like for the players in the lead up to this Saturday’s game? What is their mind-set ?
They’ll be trying to relax as much as possible. They’ll be trying to put their game to the back of their mind and have very few training sessions. They’ll be focused on more analysis than actual training because the bodies have been through a huge number of test matches. They’ve played some of the most intense games of rugby over the last 10 weeks so they’ll just be making sure they’ve got 30 players that they can select from come selection day and come Saturday. It’s very easy to get wound up, excited and overawed by the occasion but I don’t think either of these two teams will. They’ve got a lot of tried and tested campaigners who’ve been there and done it all before like Ashley-Cooper, Giteau, Mitchell, and Pocock.
Will NZ have an advantage having already won?
New Zealand have a raft of players that have played in and won a world cup already so they’ll know what it’s like. I think it’s a huge advantage. I played in a side at Leicester and in England for many years that won everything that it took part in and winning is infectious, as infectious as losing can be in a drought of losing games. If you’re in a winning mind-set you know how to win those big games. You know that the little margins make a big difference so you make the decision you make in any normal game. You don’t make the crazy decision, you don’t try the crazy pass, you don’t revert into your shell, you just know how to handle the occasion and that’s what I think will give New Zealand the slight edge. This team has been there and dealt with the big pressures and come out the other side. I think they are best placed to deal with the occasion of the final.
Score predictions?
I’m going to go with 25-29 to New Zealand.
