Ex-rugby player Mike Tindall praises Kate Middleton as "effortless" during training session

Kate Middleton, who recently became the royal patron of England Rugby, has gained a vote of confidence from the former captain of the team.

The Duchess of Cambridge, who has taken over the role from her brother-in-law Prince Harry, joined England players last week for drills at Twickenham, a video of which was shared on Kensington Palace social media accounts. Former England Rugby captain Mike Tindall, who is married to Prince William's cousin Zara Tindall, tried to get inside information about Kate's mistakes so he could troll her on their family WhatsApp group. However, he was left impressed by Kate's skills and competitive nature.

The athlete revealed on his podcast "The Good, the Bad, and the Rugby," "I text [England player] Ellis [Genge] and said, 'Mate, please tell me anything she messed up on' so I could sort of... family WhatsApp group, get to her, and he said, 'No she was actually pretty good, and she was really good at kicking,' and I was like [sighs]."

The 43-year-old added that Kate has "this competitive nature where she has to be good at things." His co-presenter Alex Payne agreed and said, "She looked unbelievably natural."

Co-presenter and former England Rugby player James Haskell added, "When she was announced, I thought amazing because we know she obviously likes her rugby. But the way she caught the ball, the way she jumped in the line-out, the little outside break, she was utterly fantastic, she was really, really, really good. And so I was like amazing, and dual sport, what an amazing ambassador."

Tindall further praised his cousin-in-law's rugby skills and noted that she looked "effortless" at Rugby despite being an amateur. He said, 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."

While Kate was recently announced as the patron of English Rugby, her husband has been the patron of the Welsh Rugby Union since 2016. Tindall joked about the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge representing rival teams, "The best thing is when it rolls to England and Wales, we get the battle of the Cambridges."