CHRIS ASHTON IS one of seven players cut from England\u2019s World Cup squad as Stuart Lancaster continues to trim his panel ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Ashton was the joint leading try scorer at the last World Cup four years ago but has been excluded from the latest England training squad ahead of their first warm-up game next Saturday against France.<\/p>\n
The Saracens winger, along with\u00a0Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester Rugby), Matt Mullan (Wasps), Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby) and Marlard Yarde (Harlequins), will now return to their clubs to prepare for the new Premiership season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a great two-week camp in Denver where the entire squad worked extremely hard and were exceptional in the way they went about the training,\u201d Lancaster said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has continued this week and competition for places has been very intense.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been difficult to narrow down the squad as everyone has\u00a0contributed\u00a0and given their all. But what I have said to those guys who are not coming back in on Sunday is that the door is not closed by any means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashton was England\u2019s leading Test try scorer in the panel but hasn\u2019t made an international appearance since the heavy defeat to the All Blacks last June.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are only an injury away and\u00a0there\u00a0is a lot of international rugby to be played this season, culminating in a three-Test tour to Australia,\u201d Lancaster continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall we are in good shape. Both Nick Easter and Ben Morgan are now fit and we want to give them both opportunities to train fully and prove their form and fitness next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teams have until 31 August to submit their final 31-man squads with England facing Fiji in the opening game of the tournament on 18 September at Twickenham.<\/p>\n
England training squad:\u00a0Dave Attwood\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0Brad Barritt\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0Kieran Brookes\u00a0(Northampton Saints),\u00a0Mike Brown\u00a0(Harlequins),\u00a0Sam Burgess\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0Luther Burrell\u00a0(Northampton Saints),\u00a0Danny Care\u00a0(Harlequins),\u00a0Danny Cipriani\u00a0(Sale Sharks),\u00a0Calum Clark\u00a0(Northampton Saints),\u00a0Dan Cole\u00a0(Leicester Tigers),\u00a0Alex Corbisiero\u00a0(Northampton Saints),\u00a0Luke Cowan-Dickie\u00a0(Exeter Chiefs),\u00a0Nick Easter\u00a0(Harlequins),\u00a0Owen Farrell\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0George Ford\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0Jamie George\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0Alex Goode\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0James Haskell\u00a0(Wasps),\u00a0Jonathan Joseph\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0George Kruis\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0Joe Launchbury\u00a0(Wasps),\u00a0Courtney Lawes\u00a0(Northampton Saints),\u00a0Joe Marler\u00a0(Harlequins),\u00a0Jonny May\u00a0(Gloucester Rugby),\u00a0Ben Morgan\u00a0(Gloucester Rugby),\u00a0Jack Nowell\u00a0(Exeter Chiefs),\u00a0Geoff Parling\u00a0(Exeter Chiefs),\u00a0Chris Robshaw\u00a0(Harlequins),\u00a0Henry Slade\u00a0(Exeter Chiefs),\u00a0Billy Twelvetrees\u00a0(Gloucester Rugby),\u00a0Mako Vunipola\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0Billy Vunipola\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0Anthony Watson\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0Rob Webber\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0Richard Wigglesworth\u00a0(Saracens),\u00a0David Wilson\u00a0(Bath Rugby),\u00a0Tom Wood\u00a0(Northampton Saints),\u00a0Ben Youngs\u00a0(Leicester Tigers),\u00a0Tom Youngs\u00a0(Leicester Tigers).<\/p>\n