FIVE Bath players have been named in England's squad to face France this Saturday in the QBE International at Twickenham (8pm).

Sam Burgess makes his England debut at inside centre alongside fellow debutant Henry Slade, of Exeter Chiefs, with Anthony Watson on the wing. Rob Webber starts at hooker, with David Wilson and Dave Attwood on the bench.

Burgess has been picked at inside centre for the first of the three warm-up Tests leading into the home World Cup just 10 months after completing his high-profile cross-code move from rugby league.

The 26-year-old is only under consideration as a midfield option, not at blindside flanker where he played his best rugby for Bath last season, and starts between fly-half Owen Farrell and outside centre Slade.

Burgess is in World Cup contention despite failing to convince in the number 12 jersey at club level, but Lancaster insists the powerful Yorkshireman deserves his chance to argue his case for selection in the 31-man squad that must be named by August 31.

"We will see if Sam can translate what he's done in training, which is clearly good otherwise I wouldn't have taken this chance to look at him against France," Lancaster said.

"I'm open minded about what Sam can do - this isn't the team that's going to play against Fiji in our first World Cup game, this is the team to look at options.

"We need a balance in our backline, a balance of ball players, carriers and finishers. Sam ticks the ball carrier box.

"And obviously there's the physical nature of backlines and you need to look at that element, particularly defensively.

"It's an option for us to look at and it will be interesting to see how well Sam goes."

Tom Wood, the Northampton Saints back row, who led England in their two-Test tour of Argentina in 2013, is named as captain as England start a series of three games leading into the Rugby World Cup.

England play France home and away (August 22nd) in successive weeks followed by the final QBE International against Ireland at Twickenham on September 5.

England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Burgess, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 George Kruis, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Tom Wood (captain), 7 Calum Clark, 8 Ben Morgan.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.