England reinstate Tindall

MIKE TINDALL was last night reinstated in England’s elite player squad and had a £25,000 fine reduced to £15,000 after an appeal against the punishment meted out for his off-field World Cup behaviour.

The England and Gloucester centre appealed the original Rugby Football Union punishment which saw him kicked out of the squad and hit with a sizeable fine.

But Tindall, whose appeal was heard by acting RFU chief executive Martyn Thomas, received backing from the Rugby Players’ Association, with many people feeling he had been a scapegoat for England’s World Cup woes in New Zealand.