Sam Burgess in England squad for Rugby World Cup

England have announced their squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, which starts on September 18, and Rugby League convert Sam Burgess is the headline inclusion in the 31-man squad.

Burgess only made the switch from League to Union late last year when he signed for English Premiership side Bath, and he only made his England debut earlier this month in the warm-up match against France, but he has nevertheless been selected among four centres in England’s squad, despite playing most of his rugby with Bath in the back-row.

It means that Luther Burrell, who started all five of England’s Six Nations matches earlier this year, misses out entirely on the World Cup squad as Brad Barritt, Jonathan Joseph and Henry Slade were all selected for the centre positions in addition to Burgess.

Barring any injuries, it seems unlikely Burgess will start many matches in the World Cup, as Barritt and Joseph seem set to be England’s first choice centre pairing, but there will be plenty who believe that Burgess is highly fortunate to be in the squad at all. He has only played Union for barely 10 months, mostly in the back-row, and in that time has not really done enough to suggest to many that he is a better centre than Burrell, who has 13 caps for England and won the Premiership title with Northampton in 2014.

Burgess had a very solid debut in the 19-14 win over France on August 15, weighing in with some very sizeable tackles, but occasionally seemed to get caught out of position, and he didn’t have as much of an attacking impact as he would have liked. Burrell however had a poor game the following week in the 25-20 defeat against France in Paris, and that may well have been the final deciding factor in Head Coach Stuart Lancaster’s thinking.

There seems little doubt that Burgess has been selected based more on what he achieved in Rugby League (he was one of the best players on the world in that game) than anything he has done in Union, but England have invested heavily in him, and now it is up to Burgess to prove that the decision to select him was the correct one.

Fellow one-cap players Henry Slade and hooker Jamie George have also been selected, while George Kruis was selected among the four second-rowers ahead of Dave Attwood. In another slight surprise, Kieran Brookes was selected among the five props ahead of Alex Corbisiero. Corbisiero has struggled with injuries in recent years, but was a key figure on the successful British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in 2013, and is one of the best scrummaging props in the world. Given how poorly England’s scrum performed in last week’s defeat at France, his non-inclusion seems a risky choice.

Experienced back-rower Nick Easter also misses out, as does fly-half Danny Cipriani, despite a positive showing off the bench in the defeat at France. George Ford and Owen Farrell are the two fly-halves in the squad.

The decisions have been made, now preparation for the World Cup enters its final stages. England have one more warm-up match against Ireland on September 5, before they kick off the World Cup on September 18 against Fiji.

Given that England’s group also features rugby heavyweights Australia and Wales, it is imperative that England get back into form as soon as possible, and that Lancaster can nail down a first-choice starting XV, something that has been difficult to achieve as injuries and fluctuating form have forced him to make regular changes in recent years. His squad has now been chosen, and now is time for England to start delivering at their home Rugby World Cup.

England 2015 Rugby World Cup squad

Props: Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath Rugby)

Hookers: Jamie George (Saracens), Rob Webber (Bath Rugby), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Second rows: George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Geoff Parling (Exeter Chiefs)

Back rows: James Haskell (Wasps), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby), Chris Robshaw (captain, Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)

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

Fly-halves: Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath Rugby)

Centres: Brad Barritt (Saracens), Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)

Back three: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)