MIKE TINDALL has been 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, and the RFU last night confirmed his appeal had been successful to a large extent.
An RFU statement read: “Mike Tindall’s fine for breaches of the England elite player squad agreement during the 2011 Rugby World Cup has been reduced from £25,000 to £15,000 and he has been reinstated into the England Elite Player Squad.”
