Mike Tindall faces three months out with ankle injury

Mike Tindall receiving treatment against Scotland

Tindall suffered the injury during England's win over Scotland

England and Gloucester centre Mike Tindall has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

The 32-year-old has undergone surgery to repair the ligament damage he suffered during England's 22-16 Six Nations victory over Scotland.

Tindall led champions England to four Six Nations wins after replacing injured Lewis Moody as skipper.

However, Tindall came off at half-time against Scotland and was unavailable for Saturday's 24-8 defeat in Ireland.

That loss ended England's hopes of claiming a first Six Nations Grand Slam since 2003.

Gloucester won the LV Cup on Sunday and are third in the Premiership but Tindall will miss the season run-in, which finishes on Saturday, 7 May.

However, England manager Martin Johnson is confident that Tindall's lay-off will not affect his chances of making the national squad for the World Cup which begins in New Zealand on 9 September.

"Am I concerned about him? Not a guy of his experience, no," said Johnson. "When you look at the games for some players between now and the World Cup, there aren't a huge amount if their clubs don't make the [Premiership] play-offs."

England's next match is a World Cup warm-up against Wales on 6 August at Twickenham and Johnson says Tindall, who is due to marry the Queen's eldest granddaughter and former three-day eventing world champion Zara Phillips on 30 July in Edinburgh, has declared his availability for the match.

"He spoke to me and said he is getting married at the end of July," stated Johnson. "I said it is a week before the first game and he said 'right, I'm available'. We will have further conversations."

England then play Ireland in Dublin on 27 August, five days after the deadline for naming the 30-man World Cup squads.

Their first World Cup game is against Argentina on 10 September.