England backs coach Andy Farrell has insisted that the coaching team will keep an "open mind" regarding their World Cup squad.
A number of young and uncapped players have made a late bid to be included in the squad for this year's tournament on home soil, with Stuart Lancaster due to name his 45-man training roster next month.
Farrell picked out Saracens lock Maro Itoje and Exeter Chiefs' Henry Slade as two such players who have caught his eye, with the former in particular impressing during the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup against Clermont Auvergne.
"Maro would be a prime example of those fortunate that their club will be there and thereabouts in the big games at the end of the season. There's no bigger game for him to perform in than in the semi-final of the Champions Cup against the French giants of Clermont, and he performed outstandingly I thought," Farrell told PA.
"There's that type of player with potential all over the division, so we'll keep an open mind. People think you'd know roundabout what your squad would be - and of course we have a good idea of what that would look like, but we're also very open-minded and we always have been. We'll do the right thing, because selection is so important, because it means so much to everyone involved; both players and coaches.
"Youngsters like Maro and Henry Slade that are shining through, it's because they have characters strong enough to deal with top-level rugby, that's why they are coming through so early. And that's what you need certainly at international rugby."
England face Fiji on September 18 in the opening match of the tournament, before games against Wales, Australia and Uruguay in Pool A.
Barney Corkhill
