Austin Healey
Why Jones must find place for Slade
With one more round of Premiership matches to come and a European double-header, Eddie Jones will be pretty close to finalising his England XV for the autumn internationals, and I believe he has to find a place for Henry Slade at outside centre.
For me, he has been the most impressive English player this season. We have seen flashes of brilliance previously but this is the first time I can remember him putting a string of strong performances together.
You can often have a perception of someone being a pretty boy and, therefore, a bit soft. But he is a hard bugger. I was at the game where he broke a leg two years ago and it was a really nasty break; the type that makes you wince. But he was just sitting there, not making much of a fuss saying, “I’ve broken my leg I may need to come off ”.
Physically, he is deceptively strong and never pulls out of any contact. In another game last season, Exeter were playing Leicester and he did a proper job on a fully-fit Manu Tuilagi. Defensively, he is pretty solid. He has also got a turn of pace, which can surprise people, and a kicking game of the highest order.
I remember him being one of the first players who Eddie namechecked when he took the job, but then he suffered that horrible leg break. Any injury like that takes you at least a year to get back to where you were. I know you can be back playing from a torn ACL in six or seven months, but you will not be the same for 12-18 months. It takes time to regain that old confidence.
There is no doubt that he was off colour last season when he was struggling just to get into the Exeter team. Gareth Steenson nailed down the No10 shirt and then he was competing with Sam Hill, Ian Whitten, Michele Campagnaro and Ollie Devoto for a place in the midfield.
I spoke to other coaches around the country who suggested he may be a target for a move because he was just not getting picked. I know he loves it down there but if you are not playing, you quickly realise that you have a short career.
But, as is the Exeter way, there was no fuss made, no toys out of the pram, he just stuck at it. I think that incredible kick to touch in the last minute of the Premiership semi-final against Saracens may have been a turning point. I know it is just one kick but it is amazing the effect something like that can have on your own confidence and the confidence of others in you.
If you are trying to get in that England midfield then it is little things like that which can make a
He can surprise people. Sometimes we are too quick to pigeonhole or put a label on a player
big difference. It drives me mad to see a fly-half with a penalty on halfway or closer not even make the 22 with the kick. Why have you not gone for it? Guys who take chances should take the shirt. When he produced a brilliant dummy and grubber for Jonny May to score in the first Test against Argentina, you knew he had the full catalogue of skills.
This leads to the question of where he fits in. Instinctively, you feel that he could not play in the same midfield as George Ford and Owen Farrell, that you would want to add the power of Ben Te’o or the pace of Jonathan Joseph and Elliot Daly into the mix.
Yet I think Slade can surprise people. Sometimes we are a bit too quick to pigeonhole a player or put a label on them – crash ball, gas merchant, playmaker – and think that is the only thing they can do. Ask Richard Wigglesworth what he thinks about being called an organising, box-kicking scrum-half and he will tell you in no uncertain terms that there is slightly more to his game than that.
Slade is a natural playmaker but that does not mean he does not possess other qualities. What I have noticed this season is how much he has developed his outside break. He is not going to beat Daly or Joseph in a footrace, but he has the pace to beat the first defender.
Remember when we thought Eddie was mad for putting Farrell and Ford together? Who is to say he cannot add Slade into the equation? That would probably have a knock-on effect in the composition of the back row and back three but, if any coach can make it work, then it is Eddie.
Although Argentina, Australia and Samoa do not represent the highest-profile set of fixtures that Twickenham has ever hosted, it is still a significant autumn. This is Eddie’s last chance to experiment and take a couple of punts before we get into the home straight of the World Cup. There have been suggestions that he may rest a few of the Lions guys and it is the perfect opportunity to road test a few different combinations.
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