Josh Beaumont hoping World Cup flop will open door for England newcomers

Josh Beaumont hopes England's World Cup disappointment will open the door for the new faces in the squad.

The Sale number eight was one of seven uncapped players picked in England's Elite Player Squad for next month's RBS 6 Nations.

There were several big-name omissions in Eddie Jones' first selection as England look to start a new chapter after crashing out of their home World Cup at the group stage.

Beaumont, 23, hopes he can be one of the beneficiaries, and he told Press Association Sport: " To pick up a cap is obviously my ultimate ambition and to keep a place in the squad.

"I don't know what the coaches are thinking but if they give me the opportunity then I'll hopefully grab it with both hands.

"You can't look away from the fact there's some experienced players in that squad in international rugby and you need experience but maybe it's the start of a World Cup cycle and they'll be willing to give a couple of the younger guys a go.

"After every disappointment there has to be some sort of moving on. There's got to be questions asked and more opportunities. Hopefully there'll be different results in a few weeks' time."

Jones has already told his players to expect tough training sessions, but that will hold no fear for Beaumont.

His path to the England set-up has been an unorthodox one, having switched from fly-half to the forwards as a teenager and played for his home-town club Fylde and Durham University before joining Sale in 2012.

He is one of a number of young England players given their chance by Sale coach Steve Diamond, who Beaumont cites as a major influence on his career along with former England coach Brian Ashton, under whom he played at Fylde.

"Steve's been a massive influence," said Beaumont, who captained Sale for the first time against Pau on Friday to complete a memorable week.

"He gave me my first opportunity at the club three years ago and he's always backed my ability, which for a player it's great to know you've got that confidence from the coaches.

"It's a tough breeding ground up here, he works us hard and that shows when it comes to the crunch."

Beaumont's family have also been very important to his career, in particular his dad Bill, who captained England's Grand Slam-winning team in 1980.

"He's proud," said Josh. "I spoke to him last week when I got the call-up. I speak to him quite regularly and he was pretty happy with me being selected.

"But he knows, as I know as well, that the hard work starts now. He achieved so much in the game and hopefully I'll be able to emulate that."

Josh will focus on Sale's crunch European Challenge Cup clash with Newport Gwent Dragons on Thursday before turning his attention to England.

And he insists there is no additional need to prove himself because of his family ties.

He said: "You always get the 'son of' label. You just grow up with it and get used to it. It gets frustrating sometimes but, when you get to a certain level, you're only there for one reason, there's no external factors helping you to gain selection. So you just brush it off.

"A few articles have mentioned it quite heavily since last week but they're bound to, I understand that. But from now on in I don't expect it to come up too much.

"There's no external pressure just because of the surname. I'm my own man and I'll just keep trying to perform well for Sale, hopefully perform well in camp and you never know."