Smith goes from wing on to plane

Rob Purdham and Lee Smith will be the eye-catching names when Tony Smith names his England squad for the World Cup today.

Lee Smith, a 22-year-old wing or full-back, has played his way on to the plane to Australia after being unable to make the Leeds first team at times this season.

He scored two tries in the play-off victory over Wigan and then, after being moved to full-back for the injured Brent Webb, was man of the match in the Grand Final on Saturday.

Purdham's selection is more of a reward for consistent performances in a moderately successful Harlequins side this season.

The Cumbrian back-row forward has been an outstanding captain of the London-based club, has played for the second-string England side and is a more than useful goal-kicker.

The other names on Tony Smith's list are likely to contain few surprises. Lee Smith will provide the necessary cover for the first-choice full-back, Paul Wellens, while the absence of Gareth Raynor leaves Ade Gardner as the one automatic selection on the wing. Peter Fox and another man who has only come into the reckoning in recent weeks, Mark Calderwood, are the others likely to get the trip.

The old firm of Martin Gleeson and Keith Senior will be the front-line centres, with Bradford's Paul Sykes as the most convincing back-up.

Leon Pryce will be included, despite his lacklustre showing in the Grand Final, but he will have to compete with Danny McGuire for the right to line up alongside Rob Burrow.

Prop forward looks potentially the strongest department, with Jamie Peacock, Adrian Morley and James Graham competing for starting places and Maurie Fa'asavalu as a specialist from the bench. Wigan's Stuart Fielden has also done enough to be recalled after a two-year Test exile.

At hooker, James Roby is first choice and Mickey Higham might pip Matt Diskin for the other place.

The back row of the pack is where the hardest choices must have been made.

Only the Leeds pair of Kevin Sinfield and Gareth Ellis will have been inked in early.

Throw Purdham and Wigan's Gareth Hock into the mix and that only leaves two vacancies. They could well be filled by Jon Wilkin and Ben Westwood, although there are also cases to be made for Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Joe Westerman.

Tony Smith also has to pick a side to face Wales at Doncaster on Friday in his only warm-up match. It will be little guide to his World Cup intentions, as he intends to rest all the Leeds and St Helens players who took part in the Grand Final.

England's first game in the tournament is against Papua New Guinea in Townsville on 25 October.

Ireland, who start their campaign against Tonga in Parramatta two days later, also name their squad today.

World service: Likely England squad

*FULL-BACKS: Wellens (St Helens), Smith (Leeds). WINGS: Gardner (St Helens), Fox (Hull KR), Calderwood (Wigan). CENTRES: Gleeson (Warrington), Senior (Leeds), Sykes (Bradford). HALF-BACKS: Pryce (St Helens), McGuire (Leeds), Burrow (Leeds). PROPS: Peacock (Leeds, capt), Morley (Warrington), Graham (St Helens), Fa'asavalu (St Helens), Fielden (Wigan) HOOKERS: Roby (St Helens), Higham (Wigan). SECOND ROW: Ellis (Leeds), Hock (Wigan), Wilkin (St Helens), Westwood (Warrington). LOOSE FORWARDS: Sinfield (Leeds), Purdham (Harlequins).