Rugby Union: Farrell Joins Elite Without Playing

Andy Farrell was yesterday named in England's elite squad even though he has still to play for Saracens five months after his transfer from Wigan.

The 30-year old former Great Britain rugby league captain, whose £200,000-a-year salary is shared equally by his club and the Rugby Football Union, joins his former rugby league colleague Jason Robinson in the 45-man squad, although the Gloucester centre Henry Paul, who changed codes four years ago, was one of three players involved in last year's Six Nations to be left out.

Farrell, who played in the second row and at prop for Wigan, is being considered by Saracens as a centre or back-row. He is one of six new faces in the elite squad, along with the Perpignan prop Perry Freshwater, the Gloucester scrum-half Peter Richards, the Wasps wing Paul Sackey and the Bath front-rows Lee Mears and Duncan Bell.

England's head coach Andy Robinson has limited his elite squad to 50, down from last year's 60, after negotiations with Premiership clubs, and no more than 30 will be involved in national training sessions.

With England at the halfway point between World Cup campaigns, Robinson's selection has been conservative. Three of the 21 England players who represented the Lions in New Zealand this summer have been omitted from the 45: two, Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back, retired from international rugby last year and the Saracens flanker Richard Hill will miss most of the season with a knee injury.

Other veterans of the successful 2003 World Cup campaign, such as Will Greenwood and Danny Grewcock, remain even though they will be nearing their 35th birthdays when the next tournament is staged in France in 2007.

The senior national academy squad, regarded as the young elite of the English game, was yesterday increased to 16 players: it included the Newcastle centre Mathew Tait, who made his full debut against Wales last February, as well as three flankers who made an impact on the Premiership last season, Magnus Lund, David Seymour and Tom Rees.

Twickenham's strategic plan for elite rugby, which covers the next eight years, sets a minimum objective of reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2007 and winning four Six Nations Championships, including two grand slams, between 2006 and 2013.

"As the largest rugby-playing country we believe we should win the Six Nations every year," the RFU maintains in its plan. "For England to retain the World Cup, we must continue to beat the SANZAR countries on a regular basis and improve on our away performance."

The RFU is seeking "primary financial, management and contractual responsibility for the senior elite players", the plan says. "There will be dialogue to reduce the limit on the number of games per elite squad player from 32 to 28.

"International rugby delivers virtually all the RFU's revenues. The key resource for success at all levels is the players. We need to ensure that we have a programme which allows players to have one week off every six weeks to ensure appropriate recovery time in such a long campaign."

England senior elite squad: Abbott (Wasps), Balshaw (Leeds), Barkley (Bath), A Beattie (Bath), D Bell (Bath), S Borthwick (Bath), G Chuter (Leicester), B Cohen (Northampton), M Corry (Leicester), M Cueto (Sale), M Dawson (Wasps), L Deacon (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester), A Farrell (Saracens), J Forrester (Gloucester), P Freshwater (Perpignan), A Gomarsall (Worcester), W Greenwood (Harlequins), D Grewcock (Bath), A Hazell (Gloucester), C Hodgson (Sale), C Jones (Sale), B Kay (Leicester), J Lewsey (Wasps), L Mears (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Palmer (Leeds), P Richards (Gloucester), J Robinson (Sale), G Rowntree (Leicester), P Sackey (Wasps), S Shaw (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale), J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), O Smith (Leicester), M Stevens (Bath), S Thompson (Northampton), M Tindall (Gloucester), A Titterrell (Sale), P Vickery (Gloucester), T Voyce (Wasps), J White (Leicester), J Wilkinson (Newcastle), J Worsley (Wasps).