Slade has new spring in his step thanks to mentor Wilkinson

HENRY Slade has revealed how confidence gained from working with boyhood hero Jonny Wilkinson helped him deliver the kick that killed Saracens’ hopes of a ‘double-double’.

Saracens boss Mark McCall described Slade’s astonishing 60-metre touchfinder in the final minute of last week’s epic Premiership semi-final as, ‘one of the great kicks of all time’.

Exeter rammed over the resultant five-metre lineout drive to seal their place in yesterday’s final, leaving man-of-the-moment Slade to reflect on the growing influence of Wilkinson, who has been mentoring the 24-year-old playmaker with England.

Slade, below, now preparing for England’s tour of Argentina, said: “It was a bit surreal when I saw Jonny come into camp because he was such a hero.

“I’d played against him for Exeter against Toulon and met him before, but it was still a case of, ‘Bloody hell, it’s Jonny Wilkinson!’. But after speaking to him and having a few sessions, we got on really well and he has lots of good ideas on kicking. “At Exeter I work day-in, dayout with Ali Hepher and Ricky Pellow who’ve both been excellent, but Jonny’s added a different dimension to things.

“I won’t give away secrets but I’m definitely taking it all on board and trusting what he’s telling me, so that’s giving me a lot of confidence.”

Slade added: “As for THAT kick, our forwards had earned a great penalty in the scrum, there was a bit of wind at my back and there was only a minute on the clock, so I thought, ‘let’s just go for it’. It turned out all right.”

Slade heads into England training this week with boss Eddie Jones continuing to voice doubts over his ability to crack it at Test level.

Unperturbed, Slade said: “Eddie likes to psyche people up so you take things he says on board and work on what he tells you.

“I’m pretty confident and a few guys are missing with the Lions, so this tour gives me a chance to step up. I’ll go into it full-on.