Burgess included in England's 31-man squad for RWC

Former NRL star Sam Burgess has been included in England's 31‑man squad for the Rugby World Cup which starts next month.

Burgess only made his union debut for Bath in November last year and won his first England cap against France this month.

The 26‑year‑old's inclusion means there is no place for fellow centre Luther Burrell, a regular during the past two Six Nations campaigns.

Head coach Stuart Lancaster has also left out fly‑half Danny Cipriani.

Exeter's Henry Slade, is named as one of the four centres alongside Burgess, Saracens' Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph of Bath.

Ben Morgan is named as one of the back rows, despite having played just 40 minutes of competitive rugby since suffering a broken leg and, in the second row, George Kruis has beaten Dave Attwood to a spot in the squad.

Head coach Lancaster, whose side begin their tournament against Fiji at Twickenham on the 19th of next month says they feel they are in good shape before the tournament.

Meanwhile, a lot of questions have been raised with how Lancaster is struggling to find who is his best backline combination after he dropped Manu Tuilagi, Chris Ashton and Semesa Rokoduguni.

England 2015 Rugby World Cup squad :

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

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

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

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

Scrum‑halves: Danny Care (Harlequins), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Ben Youngs (Leicester).

Fly‑halves: Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath).

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

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