As a late England call-up Jamie George must battle harder than anyone to make sure his World Cup campaign doesn’t suffer a premature end – but the Saracens hooker insists he’s started on a level playing field in camp.

George, 24, was desperately unlucky to miss out on the initial squad after a swashbuckling season for Aviva Premiership champions Saracens, finishing as the top tackler in top-tier English rugby among the tight-five positions.

But fate conspired to deal George one last hand – in the form of a headbutt from Northampton Saints’ Dylan Hartley.

Hartley was likely to be England’s first-choice hooker but that indiscretion, in the Premiership semi-final between Northampton Saints and Saracens, saw him dumped from the squad to George’s advantage. Even so there are no shortage of quality hookers left vying to make the final 31-man squad, with Rob Webber, Luke Cowan-Dickie and British & Irish Lion Tom Youngs having been picked ahead of him, but George is convinced he can still prove a standout.

“It’s amazing to be called up, when the call came it was a bit of a surprise,” said George, who was speaking as part of the England Team at the official launch of the Canterbury England Rugby World Cup kit.

“I was very disappointed to not be involved and now to be I’m ecstatic to be involved in such a hard-working group.

“In the hooker position generally what (forwards coach) Graham Rowntree was saying to me was that I’d be the first hooker in if someone was to drop out, and he said it was quite a close call from what I could work out.

“We’ve been in for two and a half, three weeks before the cut is made and they’ve given us good opportunities to see what we can do. I’m happy with how I’ve gone so far and I hope to impress, but it’s just brilliant to be involved.

“We can impress with a clean slate and that’s how Stuart (Lancaster) has spoken to me about it, everyone is coming down here in that position and you’ve just to put your head down and work hard which is what I’ve been doing.

“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for the other hookers in the squad, so I know I’m going to be have the top of my game to make it into the squad.

“It doesn’t get much bigger than this, a home World Cup, and just pulling the shirt on is a pretty humbling experience to put on the rose. It’s something I’ve been working towards for a long time, and I’m part of the group which is awesome.”

England forwards coach Graham Rowntree has ordered his tight-five contingent to spend less time in the gym to ensure they’re limber enough to get stuck in at the breakdown and with ball in hand – not that George needs encouraging.

In one of the highlights of May’s Aviva Premiership final, the barrel-chested George scooped up the ball from a full 40 metres out and bustled over the whitewash, despite the attention of Bath’s speedy backs.

“That definitely did surprise me, I was expecting to be caught very quickly!” added George. “I didn’t have a clue what was going on to be honest, I almost closed my eyes and hoped for the best.

“I enjoy the loose aspect of the game as well the physical aspect of it, I enjoy getting around the field and also the fitness element of pre-season as well which I guess goes into my favour too. For (Graham Rowntree) to say that is great, that’s the way I like to play the game and hopefully I can do that in an England shirt at some point.

“You come into a camp like this with a spring in your step having won the final, there’s ten of us (Saracens) here so there’s quite a few knocking around. All those guys performed so well in the final and it’s great for us to put in a performance like that before we came in.”

Jamie George was appearing alongside his England team mates at the launch of the innovative England Rugby World Cup shirt #CommittedtoEngland. Visit Canterbury.com