On this day in 2014: World Cup winner Mike Tindall retires

The Bath and Gloucester back hung up his boots after 17 years of professional rugby.

Mike Tindall carries the Webb Ellis Trophy (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Archive)

Mike Tindall became the final member of England’s 2003 World Cup-winning team to retire on this day nine years ago.

Then 35, Tindall decided to hang up his boots after almost two decades in the game with Bath and Gloucester.

Four days earlier, Iain Balshaw confirmed his retirement after failing to recover from a knee injury, briefly leaving Tindall as the only member of England’s World Cup-winning squad still active.

The Otley-born back, who married the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips in 2011, started his career with Bath in 1997 and spent eight seasons at the Rec before moving to their West Country rivals Gloucester.

Tindall spent almost a decade at Kingsholm and became player-coach following the arrival of director of rugby Nigel Davies in 2012.

He played 75 matches for England and since retirement has featured on reality television shows ‘The Jump’ and ‘Bear Grylls: Mission Survive’ before finishing fourth in the 2022 series of ‘I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!’.