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Thu 27 Aug 2015 | 01:52
Stuart Lancaster on England's Rugby World 2015 Cup Squad

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Comments

England announced their 2015 Rugby World Cup squad today, with some unlucky to miss out, but still in the running in terms of a wider training group should injuries occur. Hear directly from Stuart Lancaster above as he talks about his selections.

The 31-strong group of 17 forwards and 14 backs – drawn from eight Premiership clubs – will open their campaign against Fiji at Twickenham Stadium on September 18.

England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: "It's really positive that we have such depth and options to choose from. Selection wasn’t easy and 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 we believe we are in good shape as we head into next Saturday’s game against Ireland."

England's Rugby World Cup squad:   
                                                                                             
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 (capt, Harlequins, 38 caps)  
Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 18 caps)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 37 caps)

Scrum halves
Danny Care (Harlequins, 52 caps)  
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 22 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 48 caps) 

Fly halves
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)

Posted By: Grant Constable

7 Comments

  • facepalm
    7:47 PM 28/08/2015

    Top, top bloke.

  • stroudos
    11:00 AM 28/08/2015

    You just mentioned Easter. ;)

  • stroudos
    9:10 AM 28/08/2015

    I'm actually rather excited about Slade & Burgess - they looked like a seasoned partnership in the first France game.

    The case for them is better made by Sir Ian McGeechan, a person who is far better placed to opine on international rugby team selections than I am:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/11829648/Rugby-World-Cup-2015-Stuart-Lancaster-hasnt-gambled-on-Sam-Burgess-he-deserves-to-start.html

  • stroudos
    8:09 PM 27/08/2015

    Here's what Cipriani had to say about it:
    https://twitter.com/DannyCipriani87/status/636911495666921472

    The bloke continues to go up in my estimation.

  • jimmy23
    3:46 PM 27/08/2015

    No real surprises there, still don't really agree with including Burgess and leaving out Cipriani. But hey, the decision has been made, time to get behind the team and hope they get the job done!

  • jimmy23
    3:43 PM 27/08/2015

    The only reason I can guess why they had him there is because they wanted to see what sort of form he was in case they needed him to come in for an injury? But even that's pretty poor reasoning, if he's performing well then just include him from the start?

  • facepalm
    3:31 PM 27/08/2015

    Don't even have a problem with Cipriani not getting picked. It's the fact that he was given game time despite clearly having no chance of making this squad. There is no logic to that decision.

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