Tindall's broken leg leaves him battling to be fit for World Cup

The centre, a member of England's 2003 World Cupwinning team, will miss the June tour to South Africa after colliding with Newcastle's Toby Flood, an international colleague.

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Tindall, 28, was carried off and taken to hospital where X-rays confirmed his worst fears. He had a pin inserted into the fractured tibia last night and will be in plaster for up to eight weeks.

He will then have about six weeks to rebuild his fitness before England's World Cup warm-up internationals in August against France, twice, and Wales.

The final squad is supposed to be named before the completion of these trial matches but Tindall will still rate his chances of making the World Cup as good.

England head coach Brian Ashton, a big supporter of the centre, will be hoping his man can recover quickly to add some experience to what could otherwise be a relatively young back line for the tournament in France.

Tindall's last appearance for England was at Twickenham last month when his try sealed a famous victory over the eventual Six Nations champions, France.

But he was forced to miss the final game of the tournament, the defeat by Wales in Cardiff, because of a minor injury.

Injury-plagued England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson also failed to last the distance in Friday's match, going off with a rib cartilage problem, although Newcastle do not think it is serious.