UKPassats

I was driving my car when the gear lever whilst in gear developed excessive side to side play (as though it was not connected to anything) and was like this in any gear, then it seemed as though 3rd gear was in 1st gear position and 4th gear was in 2nd gear position. Got car back home and took gear lever and cover off to inspect the linkage connection, all looked ok but Hayes manual mentioned a tension rubber which goes around the two selector levers I could not see or feel it from inside the cabin ( should I be able to see it and would this missing cause my problem) or does it look like my gearbox is kaput? Thanks for any help.