Sam Burgess named in England’s 50-man Rugby World Cup training squad

Burgess, 26, was included just six months after switching from rugby league having starred as the South Sydney Rabbitohs won the NRL Grand Final.

However, doubts remain over whether Burgess — uncapped in rugby union — will play as a centre or at blindside flanker, where he has been deployed recently by club side Bath.

As was widely expected, there was no place for the French-based pair of back-row Steffon Armitage and full-back Nick Abendanon, with England coach Stuart Lancaster refusing to use the “exceptional circumstances” get-out clause that would have enabled him to overturn the Rugby Football Union rule banning players at overseas clubs from Test selection.

This training squad is set to be reduced prior to a training camp in Denver, Colorado and cut again to 31 ahead of the World Cup squad deadline of August 31.

Squad:

Backs

Full-backs: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Alex Goode (Saracens)

Wings: Chris Ashton (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester), Jack Nowell (Exeter), David Strettle (Saracens), Anthony Watson (Bath), Marland Yarde (Harlequins)

Centres: Brad Barritt (Saracens), Luther Burrell (Northampton), Sam Burgess (Bath), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Kyle Eastmond (Bath), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester)

Fly-halves: Danny Cipriani (Sale), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath), Stephen Myler (Northampton), Henry Slade (Exeter)

Scrum-halves: Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Ben Youngs (Leicester)

Forwards

Back-rows: Calum Clark (Northampton), Nick Easter (Harlequins), James Haskell (Wasps), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Tom Wood (Northampton)

Second-rows: Dave Attwood (Bath),Maro Itoje (Saracens), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), George Kruis (Saracens), Geoff Parling (Leicester), Ed Slater (Leicester)

Props: Kieran Brookes (Newcastle), Dan Cole (Leicester), Alex Corbisiero (Northampton), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Matt Mullan (Wasps),Mako Vunipola (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath)

Hookers: Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Rob Webber (Bath), Tom Youngs (Leicester)