Farrell in England World Cup call

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Andy Farrell was included in England's World Cup squad on Monday as coach Brian Ashton opted for experience in his bid to retain the trophy.

As expected there was no place for Mike Tindall or Charlie Hodgson who were both short of fitness after long-term injury absences.

Tindall, a member of the 2003 World Cup-winning team, has not played since breaking his leg in April while Hodgson misses a second successive World Cup with a knee injury suffered last November.

Tindall's absence made the inclusion of the muscular Farrell an easy call, with Jamie Noon offering a similarly bruising centre approach.

Ashton has long been a fan of rugby league convert Farrell, and though the player has struggled with injury and looked cumbersome in many of his union appearances, he delivered a more encouraging show in the 62-5 thrashing of Wales two weeks ago.

Veteran Mike Catt, new boy Danny Hipkiss and Mathew Tait provide the creativity in midfield.

Ashton, who appears to have gone towards a more conservative, forward-dominated game plan in his last two games, omitted young backs Nick Abendanon, Danny Cipriani and Tony Flood, while James Haskell, Tom Palmer and Kevin Yates were the unlucky forwards.

There are 12 survivors from the 2003 World Cup squad plus lock Simon Shaw, who travelled to Australia as a replacement but got no closer to the action than a place on the bench for the quarter-final against Wales.

The Wasps lock's inclusion at the fourth attempt is one of the good-news stories from Monday's announcement. Shaw also missed the 1995 tournament through injury and was culled by Clive Woodward from the final 30 in 1999.

Jonny Wilkinson, who kicked the winning drop goal in the 2003 final, is back and at full fitness, as is former captain Lawrence Dallaglio, whose return from retirement has added some physical and mental steel to an England team who forgot how to win under former coach Andy Robinson.

"I spoke to each of the players who would not be involved in the final 30 yesterday and they were all obviously very disappointed not be included but I stressed to each of them that they could be invited back if a member of the squad suffers an injury either before or during the World Cup," Ashton said in a statement.

"Mike Tindall has worked very hard to recover from his injury and he was running last week but it was agreed by the coaches that he and Charlie Hodgson, who is fit but like Mike has not played top level rugby for a number of months, could not use the final warm-up test or the World Cup pool games as part of their rehab."

England play their final warm-up game against France in Marseille on Saturday when Ashton has said he will play his strongest team, which will be announced on Tuesday.

England begin the defense of their title against the United States on September 8.

Tighthead prop Sylvain Marconnet will remain in France's 30-man World Cup squad despite not having fully recovered from a leg fracture, the French team said on Monday.

France, who have until Tuesday to make their list official, said there would be no changes to the squad announced last June.

Stade Francais player Marconnet underwent a left shinbone operation after a skiing accident in March.

French daily Le Parisien reported on Monday that he could miss the World Cup which starts in France on September 7.

"Sylvain Marconnet will continue rehabilitation and physical training in order to be present at the World Cup," the French team replied in a statement.

Marconnet, 31, is France's most-capped prop with 71 international appearances.

Winger Denis Hickie, Ireland's joint highest try scorer, is to retire from rugby after the World Cup.

The Leinster player, named in his country's 30-man squad on Sunday, has collected a total of 58 caps since making a try-scoring debut against Wales in 1997.

"I have decided the best time to end my career is immediately after the upcoming World Cup," the 31-year-old Hickie said in a statement on Monday.

"It is a decision I have not come to hastily and as a result I am content it is both the right thing for me to do and that I am doing it at the right time."

Hickie and World Cup captain Brian O'Driscoll have scored 29 tries for their country.

Ireland's first World Cup game is against Pool D rivals Namibia in Bordeaux on September 9.

South Africa coach Jake White named a near full-strength team for the World Cup warm-up test against Namibia in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez will start his first match since the Super 14 final in May, while skipper John Smit returns for the first time since pulling a hamstring in June.

Number eight Jacques Cronje is the only member of the team who is not in the 30-man squad for the World Cup. He is deputising for the injured Danie Rossouw and Bob Skinstad.

"The result of the match is not as important to us as the way we play," White told a news conference.

"We are interested in putting our patterns into play. We've spent weeks on the training ground and need to translate that into the way we perform on the field."

This is the first time a match between South Africa and Namibia has been awarded test status. For several players, such as fullback Percy Montgomery and prop Os du Randt, it will be the last time they play an international on home soil.

South Africa leave for Ireland on Friday for warm-up matches against Connacht and Scotland. Their opening Pool A World Cup match is against Samoa on September 9.

South Africa: 15-Percy Montgomery; 14-Ashwin Willemse, 13-Jaque Fourie, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-JP Pietersen; 10-Butch James, 9-Fourie du Preez; 8-Jacques Cronje, 7-Juan Smith, 6-Schalk Burger, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Bakkies Botha; 3-CJ van der Linde, 2-John Smit, 1-Os du Randt.

Replacements: 16-Gary Botha, 17-BJ Botha, 18-Albert van den Berg, 19-Johann Muller, 20-Ricky Januarie, 21-Ruan Pienaar, 22-Akona Ndungane. E-mail to a friend

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