Like the rest of his team-mates, Simon Shaw is hoping to impress in Thursday's trial game © Getty Images

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Simon Shaw is predicting a "full-on game with a proper intensity" when England's World Cup hopefuls lock horns in a trial game at the Stoop on Thursday.

Team manager Martin Johnson has divvied his 45-strong squad up into two teams and has decided to pit them against one another in a match of three twenty-minute periods. Though it is not unusual for coaches to organise "probables versus possibles" matches ahead of major tournaments, Johnson has opted to mix first-team regulars with relative newcomers, a move that Shaw feels will add an extra element of intrigue to the exercise.

"It is going to be a full-on game with a proper intensity," the veteran lock is quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "It is going to be incredibly tough, you have got some guys with a lot to prove so it is going to be very competitive.

"I once played in a game like this for Wasps ahead of a final but that was pretty much the first team playing against the rest of the squad. This is two teams pretty much mixed up, with guys who have played for England a lot of times playing alongside guys who haven't and matching up to see how everyone goes.

"I certainly haven't been involved in anything like this in the professional game. Ultimately it is another test and you have to get your game-head on and approach it in the most professional way.

"We quite often go full tilt in contact, team against team, in training but this is going to be different in that it is a competitive environment over an extended period."

Johnson is expecting to release some players from his training camp on Sunday before announcing his 30-man panel for the World Cup on August 22.

Meanwhile, Shaw is remaining tight-lipped on speculation that he is considering leaving London Wasps to join Aviva Premiership rivals Bath.

"I have not made any decision yet and I am just concentrating on trying to make the England squad," he said. "I might not even make my decision until after the World Cup."