England will head to France without the 28-year-old, who is still recovering from a broken leg suffered on club duty last April.

Tindall said: “As soon as I did the injury and realised how long it was going to take – it’s a four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half month injury as standard – I was always under the impression I wasn’t going to go.

“That way, I wasn’t disappointed.”

England utilised the skills of renowned American knee injury specialist Bill Knowles – he worked with Tindall, Charlie Hodgson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Dan Ward-Smith – during their World Cup preparations in Bath, before Brian Ashton named his squad.

“They were hoping that with Bill Knowles, they could shave a couple of weeks off the timescale,” Tindall told the Gloucester Citizen.

“They hoped that would mean I’d get the last warm-up game in (against France in Marseille).

“In my eyes, that was never a realistic goal. I was always looking at the last week in August or the first game of the World Cup (on September 8).

“It was down to Brian to decide how he felt the squad was going. He told me he couldn’t guarantee I would be fit – and I couldn’t either. You have got to respect his decision.”

Tindall is effectively among England’s list of stand-by players for the World Cup.

Currently running at about 80% capacity, he hopes to be fit for Gloucester’s Guinness Premiership opener at Leeds on September 16.

But regarding any possible late World Cup entry, Tindall said: “I am not going to hang on to that very thin thread.

“It is nice to know you’ve done it [won the World Cup]. But no one has ever successfully defended it, and that was a massive incentive for me.

“But that is at the back of my mind. I’ve got to knuckle down and get fit. I cannot worry about things out of my control.”