Tindall's Six Nations role jeopardised by shoulder injury

Mike Tindall has been playing like royalty recently, as well as dating it, but his run of blue-blooded performances may have reached the end of the private drive for the foreseeable future.

Mike Tindall has been playing like royalty recently, as well as dating it, but his run of blue-blooded performances may have reached the end of the private drive for the foreseeable future. The Bath centre and England vice-captain is awaiting the results of a scan on his ravaged shoulder, and if his London-based specialist decides that the joint is unstable, reconstructive surgery will be on the cards. That would certainly prevent Tindall participating in the first tranche of Six Nations Championship matches.

To add insult to injury - or rather, injury to injury - he is also suffering from a stress fracture of the right foot; a problem known, embarrassingly enough, as "ballet dancer's condition". Tindall, the current beau of the Princess Royal's daughter, will never live it down.

Chris Mallac, the head of physical preparation at Bath, said yesterday that Tindall had aggravated a long-standing issue with his shoulder during the West Country club's damaging defeat by Treviso in Italy at the weekend. Mallac added that the offending foot had been deteriorating since another of the team's recent Heineken Cup setbacks, against Leinster in Dublin in October.

Bath, who must beat Treviso in the return fixture at the Recreation Ground on Saturday to stand an earthly of qualifying for the knock-out stage of Europe's premier club competition, now have a casualty list in double figures. Four front-rowers - Jonathan Humphreys, David Flatman, Rob Hawkins and Christian Loader - are out of commission, as are the loose forwards Isaac Fea'unati and Gareth Delve, the scrum-half Martyn Wood and the backs Matt Perry, Lee Best and Joe Maddock. However, Bath hope Andrew Higgins, Robbie Fleck and the England lock Danny Grewcock will face the Italians after missing last Saturday's minor calamity with jaw, back and calf problems respectively.

Should Tindall be incapacitated for more than a month, England will be every bit as concerned as Bath. With Henry Paul's star in the descendent and Jonny Wilkinson showing no immediate sign of returning from his latest bout of enforced inactivity, the world champions can ill afford the loss of another midfielder, especially as Wales, their first Six Nations opponents, are asking such serious questions of defences with ball in hand.

Sadly, any designs Bryan Redpath might have had on a touring berth with the 2005 British and Irish Lions are disappearing fast. The 33-year-old former Scotland scrum-half retired from international rugby after the last World Cup, but had indicated his availability for next summer's three-Test trip to New Zealand. That, however, was before he suffered a triple fracture of the cheekbone during Sale's impressive European Challenge Cup victory over Narbonne in the Languedoc at the weekend.

Redpath, who clashed heads with his outsized colleague Andrew Sheridan and undergoes surgery today, is not expected to resume active service until mid-spring. Sale will miss him, even though they have frequently preferred the Tongan half-back Sililo Martens in their starting combination. The Stockport-based club play the second leg of their tie with Narbonne on Friday night.

Wasps, the European champions, are also on the back foot in injury terms as they prepare for their all-important Heineken Cup match with Leicester at Welford Road this weekend - the second act in what may well come to be seen as one of this most dramatic of tournament's enduring classics. Phil Greening, who wrenched his knee during Sunday's 37-31 defeat at High Wycombe, is by no means certain to recover in time to resume at hooker. Trevor Leota remains hors de combat with knee problems of his own.