Moody handed nine-week ban

He received a nine-week ban for his part in the brawl during the win.

"Every day I wake up in the hope that it was all a bad dream and every day I ask myself why I did it," he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"I've let myself and my family down. I've let England down. Most of all, though, I've let Leicester down."

The 27-year-old became only the fourth Englishman to be sent off in an international, and the first to get his marching orders on home soil.

"Someone told me (the evening after the game) I'd become the first England player to be sent off at Twickenham," he said. "It's not something I want to be remembered for."

The fight broke out after Mark Cueto reacted angrily to a dangerous tackle by Moody's Leicester team-mate Alesandro Tuilagi.

Cueto ran over to confront Tuilagi over his tackle but, after being punched, was joined by Moody, who unleashed a barrage of his own.

I'm desperate to make it up to the Tigers in any way I can - I know I've got work to do Lewis Moody

"I didn't recognise myself (watching it back on television)," recalled Moody. "It was like watching someone totally different.

"(My fiance) Annie kept saying to me, 'what are you doing? You can't punch someone like that.' I was being defensive with her but she was right.

"My first reaction was to prevent anything getting out of hand. I've watched the video and I'm actually quite calm at first.

"I just felt Cuets had been harshly treated. He'd been on the receiving end of three disgraceful tackles and now he'd been punched as well. That's when I lost it. God I wish I hadn't."

Moody's ban puts him out of action until the end of January and is his second suspension of the season. He has already seen out a six-week ban for punching.

"By the time I come back I will have played just two games for them this season," he said.

"I keep on being injured and now suspended but it seems to affect playing for my club rather than for my country.