Centre Mike Tindall will not be painting the town red in New Zealand with England entering the business end of the Rugby World Cup.
Tindall found himself at the centre of an unwanted media storm after he and a group of England team-mates enjoyed a boozy evening out in Queenstown a fortnight ago, where an unidentified woman was seen kissing the top of the Gloucester centre’s head.
Those images led to a huge furore as only a few months ago Tindall married Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Britain and New Zealand’s Queen Elizabeth.
Tindall, who led England in their 13-9 World Cup opener against Argentina in the absence of now fit-again captain Lewis Moody, was omitted from the side that started the 41-10 win over Georgia.
However, England manager Martin Johnson insisted that was purely a matter of squad rotation and Tindall was back in action during the team’s 67-3, 10-try, rout of Romania here on Saturday that left them top of Pool B and on the cusp of quarter-final qualification.
“Our off-the-field antics are going downwards. Quiet ones from now on,” said Tindall after Saturday’s match.
“It was a relief to get back on the field. It was nice to just go out and play and get down to business.
“Even though no-one believes it we put it to bed on the Tuesday of two weeks ago. We’ve just got to get on and play rugby.”
England’s final pool match sees them face Scotland in Auckland next weekend in the latest edition of rugby’s oldest international fixture.
The match could well determine the Pool B winners, who would then likely face France rather than New Zealand, who beat ‘Les Bleus’ 37-17 on Saturday, in the quarter-finals.
“We’ve got a massive game against Scotland and then we’ll see what everything throws at us and go from there,” said 2003 World Cup-winner Tindall.
“Potentially we’ve got three games and we’ve got a final and that’s what we’ve got to focus on,” added the 32-year-old midfielder.
Phillips was in the crowd at Dunedin’s indoor Otago Stadium on Saturday to watch her husband play his part in the defeat of Romania.
But Tindall, a veteran of 74 Tests, said it was competing for a starting place against inside centre rival Shontayne Hape, who scored two tries in England’s 41-10 win over Georgia last weekend, rather than the presence of his wife and the accompanying media circus, that created pressure.
“I always have something to prove to myself. I don’t care what you (the press) think,” Tindall said.
“Hape did a really good job last week. There is always pressure around.”
England’s victory on Saturday was made all the more pleasant by the sight of Mark Cueto marking his first start of the tournament with a hat-trick in a match where fellow wing Chris Ashton also scored three tries.
Cueto had been sidelined with a back injury suffered in England’s final warm-up match against Ireland in Dublin last month.
But the Sale flyer, who’d scored just one try in his 25 previous Tests, made up for lost time with a try treble in the space of 12 first-half minutes.
“A World Cup hat-trick rates high among what I’ve done in my career,” said Cueto, who had a try disallowed in England’s 2007 World Cup final defeat by South Africa.
“It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks. It was nice to get a run-out and nice to get plenty of ball in the first half.”
COMMENTS