Stuart Lancaster goes without Danny Cipriani

England head coach Stuart Lancaster will stand or fall on the decision to drop Danny Cipriani from his final squad of 31 for the World Cup, which will be announced today.

Sam Burgess is on the brink of inclusion in England’s World Cup squad. Burgess, Luther Burrell and Henry Slade have been competing for two of the four fiercely-contested centre berths and Slade and Burgess appear to have edged Burrell.

England hinted strongly last week that Burgess will be involved and all but wrote off Slade’s chances, saying this autumn’s showpiece will have come too early in the 22-year-old’s career.

Their thinking appears to have taken a new direction, however, with Slade now back in contention and Burgess and Burrell to battle it out for the role of gainline bruiser as England prepare to reduce their 39-man training squad to 31.

Cipriani mounted a late challenge for selection, but the utility back, who offers cover at fly-half and full-back, has not done enough to convince head coach Stuart Lancaster.

The 27-year-old’s exclusion comes despite inspiring England’s fightback in the 25-20 defeat by France in Paris on Saturday with a dynamic final-quarter cameo from the bench that saw him voted supporters’ man of the match.

Number eight Nick Easter also performed a starring role as a late arrival at the Stade de France and will profit if it is deemed that picking Ben Morgan is too much of a risk, given he has played only 40 minutes since January because of a broken leg.

There are also loose ends to be tied up in the front row where Kieran Brookes, David Wilson and Alex Corbisiero are in contention and the second row where one of Dave Attwood and George Kruis will be culled. Corbisiero and Kruis are the likely departures.

Head coach Stuart Lancaster has presided over 41 Tests during his near four-year reign as head coach, yet reports have stated that the last training session of the summer camp yesterday will settle any outstanding issues.

Nowhere is competition more intense that in the centres, with Burgess, Burrell and Slade competing to join Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph at the World Cup.

Slade’s selection would be a triumph for guile over brawn, as seen in the Exeter playmaker’s only cap to date when he had a hand in all three tries as France were dispatched 19-14 at Twickenham on August 15.

Andy Farrell insists performance during England’s summer training camp will have a greater influence on World Cup selection than the warm-up matches against France.

Burgess and Slade produced solid debuts at Twickenham on August 15, but it is the work during weeks of training that have really made an impression on the management.

“Twenty minutes of rugby cannot be the sole reason you pick someone. Or even sixty minutes of rugby that doesn’t go so well. It has to be what’s right for the group,” backs coach Farrell said.

England have been accused of dithering, their task complicated by an abject display in Paris that only improved when the bench was emptied.

It is only fringe places that are in question, but the uncertainty has fuelled speculation of a muddled selection policy.

Forwards coach Graham Rowntree objects to the criticism.

“I disagree. Pretty much we know what we’re doing, but there are still some key positions up for grabs,” Rowntree said.

“As a player I would want to be considered to the last minute of the last session of the last day. We owe them that. Why shouldn’t we do that?