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LONDON - Andy Farrell was included in England's World Cup rugby squad on Tuesday (NZ time) as coach Brian Ashton opted for experience in his bid to retain the trophy.
As expected there was no place for Mike Tindall or Charlie Hodgson who were both short of fitness after long-term injury absences.
Tindall, a member of the 2003 World Cup-winning team, has not played since breaking his leg in April while Hodgson misses a second successive World Cup with a knee injury suffered last November.
Tindall's absence made the inclusion of the muscular Farrell an easy call, with Jamie Noon offering a similarly bruising centre approach.
Ashton has long been a fan of rugby league convert Farrell, and though the player has struggled with injury and looked cumbersome in many of his union appearances, he delivered a more encouraging show in the 62-5 thrashing of Wales two weeks ago.
Veteran Mike Catt, new boy Danny Hipkiss and Mathew Tait provide the creativity in midfield.
Ashton, who appears to have gone towards a more conservative, forward-dominated game plan in his last two games, omitted young backs Nick Abendanon, Danny Cipriani and Tony Flood, while James Haskell, Tom Palmer and Kevin Yates were the unlucky forwards.
There are 12 survivors from the 2003 World Cup squad plus lock Simon Shaw, who travelled to Australia as a replacement but got no closer to the action than a place on the bench for the quarterfinal against Wales.
The Wasps lock's inclusion at the fourth attempt is one of the good-news stories from Monday's announcement. Shaw also missed the 1995 tournament through injury and was culled by Clive Woodward from the final 30 in 1999.
Jonny Wilkinson, who kicked the winning drop goal in the 2003 final, is back and at full fitness, as is former captain Lawrence Dallaglio, whose return from retirement has added some physical and mental steel to an England team who forgot how to win under former coach Andy Robinson.
"I spoke to each of the players who would not be involved in the final 30 yesterday and they were all obviously very disappointed not be included but I stressed to each of them that they could be invited back if a member of the squad suffers an injury either before or during the World Cup," Ashton said in a statement.
"Mike Tindall has worked very hard to recover from his injury and he was running last week but it was agreed by the coaches that he and Charlie Hodgson, who is fit but like Mike has not played top level rugby for a number of months, could not use the final warmup test or the World Cup pool games as part of their rehab."
England play their final warmup game against France in Marseille on Sunday when Ashton has said he will play his strongest team, which will be announced on Wednesday.
England begin the defence of their title against the United States on September 8.
ENGLAND
Backs: Mark Cueto, Jason Robinson, Paul Sackey, Josh Lewsey, Mathew Tait, Jamie Noon, Mike Catt, Andy Farrell, Dan Hipkiss, Jonny Wilkinson, Olly Barkley, Peter Richards, Shaun Perry, Andy Gomarsall
Forwards: George Chuter, Mark Regan, Lee Mears, Matt Stevens, Andrew Sheridan, Phil Vickery, Perry Freshwater, Simon Shaw, Martin Corry, Steve Borthwick, Ben Kay, Joe Worsley, Tom Rees, Lawrence Dallaglio, Nick Easter, Lewis Moody
- REUTERS
