The Gloucester centre captained England to RBS 6 Nations victories, after taking the armband from the injured Lewis Moody, but missed the 24-8 RBS 6 Nations defeat against Ireland which ended their hopes of a first Grand Slam since 2003.

Tindall has now undergone surgery on the injury and, after coming off at half-time in the victory against Scotland, will be sidelined for three months.

But England manager Martin Johnson has shown his faith in his former team-mate to recover from the set-back in time for England’s World Cup in New Zealand.

“Am I concerned about him? Not a guy of his experience, no,” said Johnson.

“When you look at the games for some players between now and the World Cup, there aren't a huge amount if their clubs don't make the [Premiership] play-offs.

“We will manage all the players individually. Some guys might play in the Barbarians game at the end of May if they have missed a bit of rugby and are on their way back from injuries.

“We will run some camps before 20 June, which is the official World Cup camp. If we need to bring people in for fitness and medical reasons in May, June, we will do that.”