England wait on Tindall fitness

Tindall’s experience will be missed by England if he fails to recover

England are still waiting on captain Mike Tindall’s fitness ahead of their Grand Slam showdown with Ireland.

The Gloucester centre is seeing a specialist on Tuesday about the ankle injury he suffered during the first half of Saturday’s win over Scotland.

England manager Martin Johnson said: “Losing Mike would be a blow.

“But if he is not fit, then the guys will just crack on. Leadership is one part of our game that has really developed over the last 12 months.”

If Tindall is ruled out of Saturday’s match in Dublin, Bath’s Matt Banahan, who replaced him in the second half against Scotland, is likely to start.

Johnson added: “Matt did really well in that position when he came on.”

Banahan should be available to fill in at outside centre after early indications suggested he would not be cited for a clash with Kelly Brown.

He had only just come on as a replacement for Tindall when he ran hard and straight at Brown, catching the Scotland number eight with his forearm as he tried to fend him off.

The citing officer has until 1640 GMT on Tuesday to lodge a complaint but all the pointers are that no action will be taken.

Tindall suffered ligament damage and is still walking around in a protective boot.

He was cleared of a fracture on Sunday, and had an MRI scan on Monday, but England’s medics have decided to seek a specialist opinion.

Tindall has been England’s stand-in captain for the Six Nations, with squad skipper Lewis Moody ruled out of the championship with knee ligament damage.

Harlequins flanker Nick Easter would be the leading candidate to take over the captaincy should Tindall be unavailable.