LONDON – Centres Sam Burgess and Henry Slade, who have each played only one international, were named in England’s rugby World Cup squad as coach Stuart Lancaster culled Six Nations regular Luther Burrell from his final 31-man group on Thursday.
Flyhalf Danny Cipriani, lock Dave Attwood, number eight Nick Easter, flanker Calum Clark, prop Alex Corbisiero and hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie also missed out.
Burgess’s inclusion caps a remarkable rise after he switched from rugby league at the start of the year and spent much of his early time in union playing as flanker.
Lancaster, however, has been hugely impressed by his physicality and big-match temperament and, after just over one hour’s international action in the home warm-up against France, has trusted him to continue his progress in the white heat of a World Cup.
Slade made his debut alongside Burgess at Twickenham earlier this month and offers a classy, creative alternative in midfield and also covers flyhalf.
Jonathan Joseph and Brad Barritt are the other centres, leaving Burrell, a regular in the last two Six Nations, to make way.
The inclusion of Slade finally shut the door on Cipriani, who could not oust George Ford or Owen Farrell from the flyhalf berths or Mike Brown or Alex Goode from fullback.
Ben Morgan, who made his first appearance in eight months against France at Twickenham following a broken leg, has seen off the challenge of Nick Easter as number eight back up to Billy Vunipola.
George Kruis was chosen ahead of Dave Attwood at lock while Jamie George claimed the third hooker berth ahead of Luke Cowan-Dickie.
“It’s really positive that we have such depth and options to choose from,” Lancaster said.
“It is tough to leave anyone out but it’s important to stress that the players not in this group are still part of our wider squad and could come in at any point.
“After 10 weeks in camp we have made our final selection of players and we believe we have a great group to take us into the tournament. With three weeks to go before we play Fiji (in the opening game of the World Cup) we believe we are in good shape as we head into next Saturday’s game against Ireland. England squad for World Cup:
Props Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints, 10 caps) Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 51 caps) Joe Marler (Harlequins, 32 caps) Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 22 caps) David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 43 caps)
Hookers Jamie George (Saracens, 1 cap) Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 13 caps) Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)
Second rows George Kruis (Saracens, 8 caps) Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 23 caps) Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 39 caps) Geoff Parling (Exeter Chiefs, 24 caps)
Back rows James Haskell (Wasps, 60 caps) Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 28 caps) Chris Robshaw (captain, Harlequins, 38 caps) Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 18 caps) Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 37 caps)
Scrumhalves Danny Care (Harlequins, 52 caps) Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 22 caps) Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 48 caps)
Flyhalves Owen Farrell (Saracens, 30 caps) George Ford (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
Centres Brad Barritt (Saracens, 22 caps) Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby, 1 cap) Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 12 caps) Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 1 cap)
Back three Mike Brown (Harlequins, 38 caps) Alex Goode (Saracens, 18 caps) Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 15 caps) Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps) Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 10 caps). – Nampa-Reuters
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