Stuart Lancaster might be inclined to spend the last two weeks of May hiding behind his sofa , hoping against hope that his World Cup plans are not wrecked by the business end of the club season . England ’ s head coach will name a preliminary training squad of around 45 players in the middle of that month , before the semi-finals of the Aviva Premiership . Clubs such as Northampton , Saracens and Bath — who provide large contingents to the national squad — are bound to be involved in those blood-and-thunder matches and there is a significant risk of untimely injuries as the league campaign reaches its anticipated explosive climax . Stuart Lancaster will name his 45-man preliminary World Cup squad before the Premiership semi-finals . Lancaster must then reduce his squad to 31 players by for the World Cup on August 31 . England will have a final World Cup warm up match against Ireland at Twickenham . A day after the Premiership final at Twickenham on May 30 , an England XV made up of emerging rookies will face the Barbarians at HQ . The senior players will reconvene to begin their summer training camp in Surrey on June 22 , and the two weeks from July 13 will be spent at altitude in Denver — Colorado ’ s ‘ Mile-High City ’ . A week off upon their return from the States will be followed by a return to camp as England prepare for one experimental encounter with France at home , followed by a return fixture in Paris which they intend to treat as a more full-on Test . Lancaster must announce his final World Cup squad of 31 on August 31 , before a final warm-up match , against Ireland at Twickenham . Explaining the schedule of events as the tournament countdown intensifies , Lancaster said : ‘ The training camp will start on June 22 and the wider squad will be about 45 . It will be announced mid-May , before the Barbarians game , which is the same weekend as the Premiership final . ‘ The side to play the Barbarians will probably be made up of younger players . No-one in the squad will play in that , though one or two who have had injuries might come back into the equation . ‘ From a selection point of view , we will use the first warm-up match to look at wider options . As you narrow down to the second game , the World Cup squad and the Ireland game , they will be proper games then. ’ However , England will not wait for their encounters with France and Ireland to assess their players ’ credentials in match conditions . The plan is to host in-house matches of their own . Lancaster explained : ‘ We ’ ll spend a lot of time with proper 15-on-15 games internally anyway . ‘ We ’ ll make sure the players are put under that sort of Test-match pressure . England will also play France twice in the build up to the 2015 World Cup . Courtney Lawes was cited for his challenge on Jules Bisson but no further action will be taken . Lancaster 's side beat France 55-35 in the Six Nations on Saturday but did not secure the title . ‘ We have two high-quality teams now and you can replicate the intensity on training alone . They will vary in intensity as we go through June and July . ‘ When we go to Denver , we were thinking of bringing in opposition , but actually we ’ re probably better off having a bash against each other. ’ One man who certainly ‘ had a bash ’ against France on Saturday was Courtney Lawes . The Northampton lock was reportedly cited by the visitors after his monster hit on France fly-half Jules Plisson , but the match commissioner has seen no need to take the matter any further .
England World Cup will name a 45-man Stuart Lancaster squad in mid-May . The announcement will come two weeks before the end of the club season . Lancaster will have to cut his squad down to 31 players by August 31 .