Jones: Slade is there on merit

– As befits a man whose rugby life spans both amateur and professional eras, England coach Eddie Jones is part old-school and part sports-scientist when it comes to selection, but when weighing up Henry Slade (above) it was the numbers he could not ignore.

Slade was always a star in the making as he impressed on his journey through the England agegroup sides and it was no surprise when he was called up to the senior team by Stuart Lancaster for a World Cup warm-up against France in 2015.

He did enough to earn a slot in the tournament squad but was overlooked until the final group match against Uruguay with England already knocked out.

A broken leg ruled him out of the first Six Nations championship of Jones’s tenure and, despite a string of impressive displays for Exeter, he remained on the international periphery with only a handful of appearances off the bench.

This year he got his chance when England toured Argentina without their British and Irish Lions contingent and Slade started in both wins at outside centre.

With Owen Farrell rested against Argentina today, Slade has retained his place to face the Pumas again, albeit at inside centre, and Jones explained that England’s exhaustive monitoring of every aspect of their players helped convince him to keep the Exeter man in the starting team.

“It’s taken him some time. Sometimes those really talented kids don’t understand how you have to work hard to change that talent into consistent performance,” Jones said this week.

“He’s learned that. He is diligent and his resolve to get better has been outstanding.” –