England have named three Burgess brothers in their 24-man World Cup squad.

Twins George and Tom, who have previously played for England Knights, have received call-ups, alongside older brother Sam.

All three Dewsbury-born brothers currently play with South Sydney after starting their professional careers with Bradford.

It is the first time that three brothers have been included in an England squad.

England coach Steve McNamara stopped short of naming all four of the Burgess brothers — former Leeds prop Luke is the man to miss out — but the trio will be aiming to emulate the Hendersons — Kevin, Ian and Andrew — who all played for Scotland in the last World Cup in 2008.

The 21-year-old twins are the only uncapped players in McNamara’s squad, which will be captained by Leeds’s Kevin Sinfield.

While Sam and George were widely expected to receive call-ups after hugely impressive seasons in the NRL this year, the selection of Tom, who is in his first year with the Rabbitohs, is something of a surprise.

He gets the nod ahead of Huddersfield prop Eorl Crabtree, who is the most notable absentee.

McNamara said: “After three years of excellent preparation and the success of the England elite training programme during that period, we are ready for the Rugby League World Cup 2013.

“We are fully aware that the Rugby League World Cup 2013 will be fiercely contested and that this squad will need to work extremely hard and play to a very high level to win the tournament and we believe we have selected a squad capable of doing just that.

“As we have seen in previous tournaments, we will need all members of the squad ready to step up and make vital contributions and we feel that all 24 players have the ability to do that.

“To have a World Cup on home soil is a massive opportunity for the sport and I hope the public will turn up in their numbers and show their support for England.”

England begin their preparations with a training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

The majority of the squad will fly out today, with the Wigan and Warrington players involved in Saturday’s Grand Final going out on Monday.

Huddersfield second rower Brett Ferres will also travel to South Africa, although he has not been named in the squad.

England have a warm-up game against Italy at Salford on October 19, a week before their opening match against Australia in Cardiff.

McNamara confirmed that Leeds second row forward Jamie Jones-Buchanan had been ruled out by a knee injury, but he expects Wigan loose forward Sean O’Loughlin to recover in time from an Achilles problem.

McNamara also revealed that St Helens’s former England full-back Paul Wellens, 33, will join the backroom staff, working alongside assistant coach Paul Deacon.