Rugby: Tindall back in England squad after appeal

England centre Mike Tindall has been restored to the elite player squad after successfully appealing against his exclusion following off-field incidents at this year's World Cup in New Zealand.

"Mike Tindall's fine for breaches of the England Elite Player Squad Agreement during the 2011 Rugby World Cup has been reduced from £25,000 to £15,000 pounds and he has been reinstated into the England Elite Player Squad," the Rugby Football Union said in a statement.

Tindall, 33, was dropped from the squad and fined this month after newspaper photographs were published of him drinking with an unidentified woman in a Queenstown bar less than two months after he married the Queen's grand-daughter Zara.

RFU acting chief executive officer Martyn Thomas, who heard Tindall's appeal, said there had been mitigating factors which "do not appear to have been taken into account to the extent that they might otherwise have been".

Thomas said Tindall, who captained England this year in the absence of the injured Lewis Moody, had not intentionally misled the RFU management team when he said he could not remember where he was on the night of September 11.

"He was relying on other people's versions of events which were relayed to him," Thomas said. "There was no evidence of sexual impropriety of any nature with the woman in question and we accept the fact that she is a family friend who he has known for a long time."

Thomas also said Tindall had expressed "deep regret" at the appeal meeting and apologised to former head coach Martin Johnson and his England team mates.

"It is, however, important to stress that we believe Mike's behaviour fell way below that to be expected of somebody of his calibre and experience. He exposed himself to a very compromising position and exposed the rest of the team to damaging publicity," he said.

Thomas said the elite performance squad would be reviewed on Jan. 1.

"(We) wish to make it clear that this decision does not prevent those deciding the composition of the EPS Squad from taking into account this incident when making that decision," he said.