Slade aims to raise his physicality for England
HENRY Slade believes adding grit to his silky ball-playing skills will help him unlock the door to England’s coveted No.13 shirt in South Africa this summer.
Having accepted that outside-centre now offers his best route to a Red Rose future, Slade went about proving his ability to thrive in all conditions in front of watching England boss Eddie Jones last weekend with a combative display at rain-soaked Bath.
His battle with incumbent England No.13 Jonathan Joseph was a highlight of the evening, with Slade showing well among the muck and bullets with constant involvements at the breakdown and by backing up his forwards during passages of driving play. Slade, 25, told The Rugby
Paper: “When it’s wet, momentum is a big thing and if you can keep it going it doesn’t matter who’s carrying or clearing out, you’ve just got to be able to do it and that physicality is something I’m really adding to my game now.
“The more people who can do that across the pitch the better because it makes your game happen more seamlessly; we have so many good carriers now and people that can hit good clear-outs that it makes the game flow nicely, especially in the wet.
“I’ve only played centre this year and Eddie sees me as a 13 now, so he’s just told me to get my hands on the ball, get involved and back myself. He’s pleased with how I’m going so he just wants more of the same and for me to influence games.”
Exeter’s hard-fought victory at Bath saw them surge eight points clear at the top of the Premiership – testament, Slade says, to the constant evolution of a side he believes now possesses the all-court game to cope with any conditions thrown at them.
He explained: “Everyone likes to play in the sun with a nice dry ball so you can chuck it about a bit, but the way we’ve developed our game over the last couple of seasons means we are able to play in the dry or wet, and that’s why we’re top of the table.
“Traditionally in the past we’ve struggled in the winter months but we’re more adaptable now and it’s nice to see how we’ve been able to do that. We’ve worked very hard on that side of our game and we’re just trying to keep evolving as a team.”
Ominously for the rest, Slade believes there is more to come from Chiefs, adding: “Our coaches and the boys, especially our half-backs and playmakers like myself, watch lots of games with a view to not becoming predictable in how we try to play.
“Ali Hepher does things very well with our attack, he watches a lot of footage and comes up with good plays, and we’re constantly coming up with new ways of creating space. We practice and practice it and, hopefully, some of it then comes off.
“There’s a lot of belief. When we had a bit of the lead at the top a couple of months ago maybe we subconsciously let things slip in then losing to Worcester and Wasps, but now we’ve got another buffer we won’t let that happen again.”
Slade saw his Six Nations hopes torpedoed by a shoulder injury which restricted his involvement in camp. He explained: “Picking up the shoulder injury at Glasgow just before the Six Nations meant I pretty much missed it all, which was really, really frustrating.
“I’d featured a fair bit in November and was hoping that maybe I would carry on from where I left off and put ‘JJ’ and Ben Te’o under some real pressure, but it wasn’t to be and it was so annoying to have picked up some good form and then hit another injury.
“That always seems to happen to me when these tournaments come around but I’m in good form now. I’m not worried about the South Africa tour, all I’m focussing on is playing well for Exeter, getting to another final and getting us that trophy again.”
Slade has received further encouragement from England kicking coach Jonny Wilkinson, who had to deal with more than his own fair share of injury setbacks.
He added: “I’ve had a chat with Jonny about that and, similar to Eddie, he’s just told me to be patient, trust in myself and not get too down or worried about things. Injuries happen, they’re part of a physical game and you’ve just got to get on with it.”