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Mike Tindall was ready to rip into Kate Middleton on the family WhatsApp after she took to the rugby pitch – but she was too flawless.
The Duchess of Cambridge showed off her skills as she joined an England training session at Twickenham last week.
She was pictured being lifted in the air after the Queen handed her Prince Harry’s former roles as patron of both the RFU and the Rugby Football League (RFL).
Ex-England rugby star Mike, who is married to the Duke of Cambridge’s cousin Zara Tindall, has joked the mum-of-three was spared teasing due to her rugby prowess.
Speaking on his The Good, The Bad And The Rugby podcast, he said: ‘I text Ellis [Genge] and said “mate, please tell me anything she messed up on” so I could sort of, family WhatsApp group, get into her.
‘And he said “No she was actually pretty good, and she was really good at kicking” and I was like…’
Mike gave a big sigh to jokingly express his disappointment at the missed opportunity.
He went onto add: ‘But she has this competitive nature where she has to be good at things.’
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His co-presenter Alex Payne agreed, saying: ‘She looked unbelievably natural.’
Tindall added: ‘Just imagine, anyone who’s ever tried it, getting thrown up in the line-out if you’ve never done it before is not easy because normally, you’ll kick the prop in either the nuts or the face as he’s lifting you and she just looked effortless.’
The ex-player joked: ‘The best thing is when it rolls to England and Wales, we get the battle of the Cambridges.’
He was referring to the fact that Kate’s new affiliation with England rugby puts her in direct competition with husband Prince William, who is the Welsh Rugby Union’s patron.
The couple is expected to air some friendly rivalry as they attend England and Wales games during the Six Nations tournament.
Harry was stripped of the role by Her Majesty after stepping down as a senior royal alongside wife Meghan Markle.
A source at the time said he ‘absolutely, no question’ wanted to keep the roles he lost.
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The monarch is said to believe the titles are in safe hands with Kate, who grew up watching England rugby games with the Middleton family.
The duchess’s sister, Pippa Matthews, opened up about the family’s love of rugby for Vanity Fair in 2014.
She wrote: ‘Rugby was a big thing in our family, and the focal point was international matches, which were often played on Saturday afternoons and were as much social as sporting occasions. We’d plan our weekends around the matches.’
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