Chiefs trio in England RWC squad

By Mark Stevens

Three Exeter Chiefs players will form part of England's 31-man Rugby World Cup squad that has been announced today.

Jack Nowell, Geoff Parling and Henry Slade have all been included by head coach Stuart Lancaster, but there is sadly no place for Luke Cowan-Dickie.

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.

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.

"As the excitement builds around the tournament we are looking forward to the country getting behind England and we know this group of players will represent the nation with pride.”

Of the three Chiefs involved, Parling is the most experienced at international level with 24 caps to his name, whilst Nowell is next best on nine with Slade the rookie of the group having won his only senior cap in the recent warm-up win over France at Twickenham.

Cowan-Dickie (pictured) also featured against Les Bleus in that game, but Lancaster has ommited the Cornishman from his final mix alongside the likes of Danny Cipriani, Alex Corbisiero, Billy Twelvetrees, Callum Clark, Luther Burrell, Nick Easter and Dave Attwood.

Before facing Fiji in the opening game of this year's Rugby World Cup, England will have one final warm-up test against Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday, September 5.

England 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)