Arguably one of England's most consistent performers of recent years, Tindall was a key member of the side that captured the Rugby World Cup crown in 2003.

He marked his England debut with a try against Ireland at Twickenham in the opening match of the 2000 Six Nations, only three months after joining England's squad as Jeremy Guscott's replacement for the 1999 Rugby World Cup quarter-final against South Africa in Paris.

He was instrumental in the 2003 Grand Slam decider against Ireland, scoring a game-breaking try and also played a scoring role in England's 25-14 win over Australia in Melbourne during the 2003 southern hemisphere tour.

England's historic Rugby World Cup campaign followed with Tindall featuring in all but one of their seven matches and scored a try in the victory over Georgia. He was dropped for the semi-final victory over France in favour of Mike Catt, whose kicking game was preferred in wet conditions, but reinstated for the final victory over hosts Australia.

An ankle injury suffered while on domestic duty for Bath ruled him out of the start of the 2004 Six Nations but he started all three Test on that year's tour of the Southern Hemiphere and was made vice-captain by then England head coach Clive Woodward.

Tindall missed the 2005 Six Nations with a foot injury and subsequently failed to regain his fitness in time for selection for the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. He regained his England place for that year's autumn internationals.

He missed the 2007 Rugby World Cup after failing to recover in time from a broken right leg and was forced to miss the majority of the 2008 Six Nations after bruising his liver in the Championship opener against Wales.

Dropped to the Saxons when new England boss Martin Johnson announced his first elite squads, he was recalled ahead of the 2009 Six Nations before falling out of favour. A hamstring injury sidelined him for much of the 2009-10 season but he earned a surprise recall to the England squad ahead of the Six Nations and was named in the side for the clash against France just three games into his comeback.

He retained his place in the side as Johnson opted to inject youth into the side elsewhere and was handed the captaincy for the 2011 Six Nations when skipper Lewis Moody was sidelined by injury. Tindall started teh World Cup at inside centre with Tigers youngster Manu Tuilagi taking the outside centre spot.

However he quickly hit the headlines for the wrong reasons after being caught on CCTV with a blonde woman during a night out in Queenstown. Tindall refused to apologise but was later found to have lied in saying that he only went to one bar that night.

He was dropped for England's final match against France in the quarter finals and was later fined £25,000 and dropped from the elite player squad due to his conduct in Queenstown. Tindall appealed and his fine was reduced to £15,000 and reinstated to the EPS. But come the EPS announcement for 2012, Tindall was one of the high profile absentees as he failed to make either the EPS or the Saxons squad.

A Bath Academy graduate, Tindall played for the same England 18 Group side as fellow World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson. He joined Bath's local rivals Gloucester in 2005 and was a key figure at Kingsholm until his contract expired at the end of the 2011/12 season. Following much speculation, Tindall stayed at Gloucester, taking up a new position of player/coach with teh Cherry and Whites.