Why so shy, Tindall? Rugby star's blushes as he sat for portrait, oiled, topless and posing as Mr June...

By Rebecca English


Stripped: Tindall poses in his pants for the calendar


After all that carry-on with an ex-girlfriend Down Under, you’d have thought Mike Tindall would be keeping a low profile.

Well maybe he took a knock on the head in the Rugby World Cup – because here he is slathered in oil posing like an underwear model.

While his latest antics are for charity, it’s a little unclear where the rugby theme fits in, or how new wife Zara Phillips – 13th in line to the throne – might view it.


Tindall found himself in trouble when he was pictured cavorting with ex Jessica Palmer on a night out in New Zealand – just one of a series of off-field antics which brought shame on the England team at the World Cup.

The sportsman is patron of Rugby For Heroes, a new charity run by players to raise money for ex-servicemen.

Tindall and a group of 11 other players, including fellow England stars Delon Armitage and Tom Croft, agreed to pose for a calendar in various states of undress, with the sometime England captain being nominated as ‘Mr June’.

Mike Tindall poses in his pants as Mr June for the 2012 Rugby for Heroes calender

The photograph of Tindall leaves little to the imagination, although one tends to think that his famously formidable mother-in-law, Princess Anne, might think it rather a hoot.

Perhaps it was the result of some very flattering lighting, but the Gloucester player’s famously wonky nose (which Princess Anne jokingly told him to get fixed before his wedding back in July) looks suspiciously airbrushed.

The charity was set up by Alan Lamb, whose son Ryan plays for Northampton Saints.

He said ‘Tins’ was actually rather shy and reserved about stripping for the calendar but soon got into the spirit of things following some gentle ribbing by his team-mates.

Full English: The rest of the England rugby team show off their impressive physiques for the calendar

‘Some of the players, frankly, didn’t need an awful lot of persuading but some of them were quite shy and reserved, particularly Tins,’ he said.

‘We went to the club and the photographer was a former serviceman, which made it a bit easier to strip off and get oiled up.’

Mr Lamb added: ‘We are a very small charity but have big plans. There are so many former servicemen, particularly those suffering from the unspoken issue of post-traumatic stress syndrome, who need our help.

'This might be in the form of paying for them to go on a re-training course of simply, as we are doing at the moment, creating an maintenance free garden for one injured soldier to sit in and watch the world go by.

‘There are so many similarities between rugby players and the military, particularly the physicality and the discipline, that it seemed a natural link up between the two.’

Left, Tindall as we usually see him and right, the damning image of Tindall with ex Jessica Palmer


source:dailymail

Romantic frolics by the pool as Mike and Zara use package deal honeymoon to kiss and make up

By Amanda Perthen


Sunnier times: Mike Tindall and Zara Phillips relax by the pool of their Cypriot hotel

Rugby player Mike Tindall is pictured in another embrace with a glamorous blonde... but thankfully, this time it’s his wife Zara Phillips.

The newlyweds were clearly determined to put the tensions caused by the England star’s infamous nightclub encounter behind them last week, as they relaxed playfully on a belated honeymoon.

And rather than choose the elite playgrounds of Mustique or the Maldives for their romantic getaway, the couple chose a package-deal hotel in Cyprus.

All is forgiven: The couple canoodled in the pool following the scandal over the rugby player's antics in New Zealand

At the Columbia Beach Resort, near Limassol, they mingled happily with other guests, queuing for beach towels before sunbathing beside the packed lagoon pool.

It was in stark contrast to the more strained atmosphere between the couple last month when grainy CCTV pictures were published of Tindall canoodling with his 29-year-old ex, Jessica Palmer, in the Altitude bar in Queenstown.

The Queen’s granddaughter and her husband arrived at the Cypriot resort last week, just 48 hours after Tindall flew back to the UK following England’s World Cup defeat, and shortly after she finished competing in horse trials in the Netherlands. The couple spent most of their time sunbathing and reading, occasionally going to the beach bar.

Tindall even chose to sunbathe yesterday, rather than watch the Wales v France World Cup semi-final.

Earlier in the holiday, 30-year-old Zara rubbed suntan lotion into her husband’s back, before he returned the favour, ready for a few hours basking in the 26c heat.

At one point they plunged into the pool, with Zara whispering in Tindall’s ear and laughing, oblivious to the other guests, most of whom failed to recognise the famous couple.

On the one occasion Tindall was approached by a young boy for an autograph, he happily complied while Zara chatted to his mother.

Later, Zara sat up topless clutching a towel around herself after sunbathing face down with her bikini top undone. The couple laughed and joked as they swapped an iPad between them, but they seemed fidgety, clearly unused to spending hours just doing nothing.

Moving forward: Husband and wife looked happy again on their romantic getaway

Lazy days: The pair looked a little fidgety as they took some time off from their active lifestyles

Zara playfully smacked Tindall’s bottom with her book as he rearranged his towel, and she seemed unwilling to let him settle into his own reading, playfully putting her foot into his mouth as a distraction.

Every morning the couple were the last down to breakfast at 10.30am, with Tindall, 32, tucking into a full English while Zara had fruit and cereal, before heading for the pool.

The couple managed to maintain their sporty pursuits in the hotel’s spa, which boasts a gym and aerobics room, with Zara borrowing a pair of trainers from staff for her workout.

Before Tindall headed to Cyprus, his colleague Manu Tuilagi jokingly recreated the infamous nightclub photograph by planting a kiss on his head. ‘I thought kissing him at the airport was just a laugh,’ he said.


source:dailymail