Lancaster is urging fringe players to maintain their form and fitness

Stuart Lancaster has challenged the players outside his England squads to force their way into the reckoning ahead of the Autumn Internationals.

The England head coach is on a watching brief over the coming weeks as club rugby takes centre stage. He does not link up with his 32-man Elite Player Squad until the last week in October ahead of the autumn series which begins against Fiji on November 10.

Lancaster named 64 players to his Senior and Saxons squads during the summer, but with injuries a fact of life in the early months of a gruelling Premiership and European campaign, he wants those on the fringe to be playing at maximum capacity in case they are needed.

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Lancaster said: “You look at the 64 players in the Saxons and Seniors, and then look at some of the players who haven’t been picked who are playing now in the Premiership like Dominic Waldouck, Shane Geraghty and Matt Banahan, and it’s very exciting.

“I was watching players like this at the weekend. They’re all good players and they can all force their way into the side, but first and foremost the message is you’ve got to play well for your club.

“Concentrate on doing that and everything should look after itself from there. Because it’s happened before and it will happen again.

“Inevitably there’ll be injuries along the way and, touch wood, there’s not too many at the moment, but the Premiership is a pretty arduous competition, as is Europe, and if we pick up injuries we’ve got to have that strength in depth.

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“In a lot of positions we have that, but we still probably have one or two positions where we’re thinking ‘fingers crossed we don’t lose anybody in that position’.”

Lancaster was speaking yesterday at Leeds General Infirmary where he was presenting the hospital’s children’s charity with a signed England shirt.