text: Three former England rugby internationals on a charity expedition to the North Pole continued with their trip despite the landing gear of their plane collapsing on their way out. Lewis Moody, Danny Grewcock and Josh Lewsey said they felt nothing more than a jolt. Poor visibility at the makeshift 800m strip beside the Russian operated Camp Barneo first caused an aborted landing. Three former England rugby internationals - Lewis Moody, Josh Lewsey and Danny Grewcock - continued with their trip to the North Pole despite the landing gear of their plane collapsing on their way out . The experienced pilots were then forced to break harder than usual when a crack appeared on an ice floe near the runway. But the stars played down reports of a near miss as they celebrated a safe return from their epic endeavour to raise money for the Lewis Moody Foundation and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. Moody, 36, said: 'We didn't know anything was wrong.' 'There were murmurs about it and instead of it being a smooth landing I think maybe they had to put the plane down a bit quicker than normal. But I wasn't particularly bothered by it.' Someone left to update Moody's Twitter account wrote that the rugby star had called and said the men were safe . Before the accident Moody reminded followers to donate and posted a picture of the plane . Grewcock, 42, said there was a jolt on impact but it wasn't until the 36 passengers were getting off that the plane's nose lifted and it sank back on its rear loading bay. The group were flying from the most northerly town in the world, Longyearbyen on the Svalbard archipelago, to the Russian operated camp when the accident happened last week. Moody, Grewcock and Lewsey were part of a nine-strong team including three Royal Marines and directors of yachting company Y.CO. Moody (left) and Lewsey (right) might be used to a pitch - but they would have found the ice floes and five-feet high ridges at the North Pole a little more challenging . Grewcock runs past centre Jose Viana of Uruguay in the Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, in 2003. It is hoped the expedition will raise £250,000 for the Lewis Moody Foundation as well as the Royal Marines Charitable Trust . After the incident they were taken by helicopter to the exact latitude of 89 North before loading up their 60 kilo sleds and trekking to the pole. Their journey took them across ice floes and up five-feet high ridges and they endured temperatures as cold as -50C. It is hoped the expedition will raise £250,000 for the Lewis Moody Foundation as well as the Royal Marines Charitable Trust.
target: Lewis Moody, Danny Grewcock and Josh Lewsey said they felt a jolt .
  Plane was dropping them off at the start of the 60-mile trek to the Pole .
  Rugby stars are now back from expedition that raised money for charity .