England rugby boss Stuart Lancaster sprung a few surprises as he announced his squad for the World Cup.
The relatively inexperienced side features more players with 10 caps or fewer (7) than those with more than 50 caps to their name (3).
Rugby league converts Sam Burgess and Henry Slade both made the cut despite starting just one game each – England’s 19-14 defeat of France in Twickenham.
This means that Luther Burrell misses out despite a strong Six Nations tournament, while there is no room Billy Twelvetrees either.
Danny Cipriani was not selected despite an impressive outing in the warm up games, as British and Irish Lion loosehead prop Alex Corbisiero also misses out.
Ben Morgan – who has yet to play a full competitive game since breaking his leg in January – has been included to the dismay of Harlequins number eight Nick Easter.
The axing of Corbisiero, Easter and Burrell is sure to rankle with many English fans, as are Lancaster’s second row selections.
At second-row, George Kruis beat Dave Attwood to the final spot while Jamie George has been chosen as the third hooker in the squad.
The ENGLAND squad in full is:
Full-backs: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Alex Goode(Saracens)
Wings: Jack Nowell (Exeter), Jonny May (Gloucester), Anthony Watson (Bath)
Centres: Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Henry Slade (Exeter), Sam Burgess (Bath)
Fly-halves: George Ford (Bath), Owen Farrell (Saracens)
Scrum-halves: Ben Youngs (Leicester), Danny Care(Harlequins), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Hookers: Tom Youngs (Leicester), Rob Webber (Bath),Jamie George (Saracens)
Props: Joe Marler (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Dan Cole (Leicester), David Wilson (Bath), Kieran Brookes(Northampton)
Second-rows: Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Geoff Parling (Exeter Chiefs), George Kruis (Saracens)
Flankers: James Haskell (Wasps), Chris Robshaw(Harlequins), Tom Wood (Northampton)
No8s: Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
