Rugby League convert Sam Burgess will have a chance to book his place in the England rugby union side's World Cup squad after being handed a Test debut in the team named on Monday by coach Stuart Lancaster for Saturday's warm-up match against France at Twickenham.
Burgess has been selected by World Cup hosts England just 10 months after his high-profile cross-code switch from rugby league, having bowed out of the 13-man games by helping the South Sydney Rabbitohs win Australia's NRL title.
The 26-year-old Burgess has been picked at inside centre, not blindside flanker where he produced his best performances for club side Bath last season, and will line-up alongside fellow uncapped player Henry Slade in midfield, with experienced fly-half Owen Farrell alongside the two new Test centres. That Burgess has made it this far in his quest to play at the World Cup, which starts next month, has proved highly controversial with a number of pundits arguing he has done little in his time in union to warrant such rapid promotion for all his success in league.
But England coach Lancaster said Monday: "We will see if Sam can translate what he's done in training, which is clearly good otherwise I wouldn't have taken this chance to look at him against France."
Lancaster, making it clear he had picked an experimental side, added: "I'm open minded about what Sam can do - this isn't the team that's going to play against Fiji in our first World Cup game, this is the team to look at options.