30 Nov 2011

Tindall says RFU made him a scapegoat

6:41 am on 30 November 2011

The England rugby centre Mike Tindall says his reduced fine for off the field incidents during the Rugby World Cup is still too high, and he feels he';s been made a scapegoat by Enmgland's Rugby Union.

33-year-old Tindall has been restored to England's elite player squad after successfully appealing against his exclusion and his fine was cut from 25,000 pounds ($38, 960) to 15,000 pounds.

Newspaper photographs were published of Tindall drinking with an unidentified woman in a Queenstown bar less than two months after he married the Queen's granddaughter Zara.

Tindall said he was "deeply disappointed" by the way the RFU had chosen to handle the situation and was critical of a governing body that is already in disarray without a national coach or chief executive.