Mike Tindall will play again for Gloucester next term © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Mike Tindall

Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership | Aviva Premiership

Teams: England | Gloucester Rugby

Mike Tindall has signed a new deal with Gloucester in a player/coach capacity.

Tindall has penned a new one-year deal with Gloucester despite his days at Kingsholm appearing to be at an end after his contract expired at the end of last season. Tindall had been linked with a move cross-Channel but in recent times he made it clear that he was keen to stay at Gloucester.

Tindall will work alongside the backs and also focus on defence in his new remit where he will form part of new boss Nigel Davies' backroom staff. On the playing front, Tindall will have to vie with the likes of Tim Molenaar, Jonny May, Henry Trinder and new signing Billy Twelvetrees for a spot in the centres.

"I do see Mike as fundamental to the way we can move forward over the next couple of years," Davies told the Gloucester Citizen. "He has played here for a long time and understands the culture, he understands the playing group, and also he's got a very good rugby mind.

"He's going to have to change his mindset a little bit, and there will be challenges for him, as he understands. But what Mike will have to do now is work very hard on the coaching side of things.

"Over the next couple of years I'm sure we'll see Mike develop into an excellent coach. The whole of the backline is young, inexperienced but very exciting. I'm looking forward to working with them and having seen a bit of them already, they do possess a lot of talent, but you need to counterbalance that. Mike brings experience and continuity into that area, and also he's a slightly different dynamic to some of the players we already have.

The Citizen also reports that Gloucester will look to recruit a scrum coach to work alongside forwards boss Carl Hogg next term.