Mike Ford has backed Bath Rugby centre Sam Burgess to cement a place in England's squad for this year's Rugby World Cup.

The 26-year-old remains a part of boss Stuart Lancaster's plans, having been retained in the 45-man training squad for the pre-tournament trip to Colorado.

Lancaster is due to cut his bloated squad down to 31 members by the end of next month, but Ford is confident that Burgess will remain a part of the fold should he be given a chance to prove his worth.

"Their next step is to get a shot in the warm-up games," he told the Bath Chronicle. "Stuart probably has 28, 29 players pencilled in already. The other three or four will get a shot in that warm up game.

"If [Semesa Rokoduguni], Sam and Kyle [Eastmond] do that, I'll be backing them to get into the squad. With Sam, he just needs to play. If he gets one warm-up game, I think he'll prove to Stuart that he's the guy to be picked."

Burgess only made his England debut last year, after switching codes from rugby league to rugby union.