Friday 24 July 2015 17:51, UK
Andy Farrell is pleased with the way Sam Burgess is performing as a centre during England's training camp in Denver.
The rugby league convert is only being considered in that position for the upcoming World Cup despite playing most of his best rugby last season for Bath as a flanker.
England's high-altitude camp in Colorado has given senior management a decent chance to assess Burgess in comparison with the other candidates for no more than four centre berths in Stuart Lancaster's 31-man squad, which will be announced on August 31.
And backs coach Farrell insists the 26-year-old, who only swapped league for union last October, remains bang in contention for World Cup selection.
"We picked him in our training group as a 12 so we clearly believe he can play there," Farrell said. "He's given a very good account of himself so far this week. He's looked very comfortable in the centres.
"We're more into the rugby element of training now and he's showed up well. The competition is fierce in that position, but Sam's in the mix and doing very well.
"If you look back at his league days, he's played in many different positions from front-row to loose forward and those positions are a mile apart.
"What you find with a good footballer with a feel for the game is that they're able to adapt and play many different positions. Sam is one of those.
"Everyone is trying to give themselves a fighting chance of getting into the warm-up games and play the best they can, and Sam is no different to anyone else."
Gloucester No 8 Ben Morgan has been out in the United States training with the squad after breaking his leg in January and Farrell thinks he has a reasonable chance of making the final 31-man squad.
Farrell said: “The guys will have a deserved rest next week with a mini programme thrown in, but I am sure Ben will have a different programme because he is at a different stage to most of the players. But he is looking in awesome nick at this moment in time.
"He has really put a lot of time and effort into getting himself into a great position to get back into rugby and we couldn’t be more pleased with where he is at."
Farrell believes the training camp has been of great benefit to the England squad as they continue their build-up to the World Cup.
He said: "It’s been great over here because we have no distractions whatsoever and we’ve really concentrated hard on the training and getting better during the week.
"We’ve had time to go up into the mountains and do a bit of whitewater rafting, a bit of fishing, a bit of cycling, etc. The togetherness just grows and the group is really close at this second.
"The most pleasing thing is we have got 45 here in Denver and they are training the house down. Everyone is giving a great account of themselves, but we are going to have to narrow the squad down."
