Having reached the final last year only to lose to New Zealand, England are keen to go one better this time, but Hunter is aware that they face a huge challenge with the hosts also in their pool.

He said: “We are very excited about the World Cup but we have to bear in mind that it is a difficult competition and it will be tough.

“We have got a really tough pool in that we have got Ireland and South Africa and Italy and the Ireland and South Africa games will be within four days of each other which will be very difficult in South Africa.

“We have got quite a young side especially up front but we have also got some older guys to come back into the mix as well that haven’t really featured through the Six Nations.

“So we are really happy with the players and I think given some of the performances in the Six Nations you would be hard pushed not to be excited by guys like Anthony [Watson]. He really is a tremendous talent and a tremendous lad to work with.”