Mike Ford has backed Bath Rugby centre Sam Burgess to cement a place in England's squad for this year's Rugby World Cup.
The 26-year-old remains a part of boss Stuart Lancaster's plans, having been retained in the 45-man training squad for the pre-tournament trip to Colorado.
Lancaster is due to cut his bloated squad down to 31 members by the end of next month, but Ford is confident that Burgess will remain a part of the fold should he be given a chance to prove his worth.
"Their next step is to get a shot in the warm-up games," he told the Bath Chronicle. "Stuart probably has 28, 29 players pencilled in already. The other three or four will get a shot in that warm up game.
"If [Semesa Rokoduguni], Sam and Kyle [Eastmond] do that, I'll be backing them to get into the squad. With Sam, he just needs to play. If he gets one warm-up game, I think he'll prove to Stuart that he's the guy to be picked."
Burgess only made his England debut last year, after switching codes from rugby league to rugby union.
Daniel Lewis
