SUMMER RUGBY IS NOT COOL WITH ME
England centre Slade says the heat would make it ‘bloody tough’ on players
HENRY SLADE has come out against rugby union becoming a summer sport at the top level.
The England centre returns to training with Premiership leaders Exeter this week ahead of the planned August 15 restart, with Slade, Jack Nowell, right, and Co holding a five-point lead over Sale.
But Slade is concerned that this season’s temporary shift could become a permanent one as part of attempts to align the northern and southern hemisphere seasons.
His view is that, while summer rugby might work for the game’s administrators, it would not do so for the players.
Slade said: “The way the past couple of seasons have gone, the finals have been pretty late in the year.The last one was June 1.
“Those finals were up near 30 degrees, which isn’t ideal for rugby. It does encourage running rugby but for the players it is bloody tough to play in heat like that.
“I actually quite enjoy the way the season is in England at the moment because you get to experience a broad range of conditions.
“The weather is nice at the start, it gets colder and wetter in the middle and brightens up at the end, which is a good mixture.
“You have to adapt your game and play through different conditions, which shows you are truly a good side if you can. It shows you have an all-court game.”
Slade has no issues with a resumption of training during the
Covid-19 outbreak, even though he is a diabetic.
The 27-year-old added: “I messaged the doctor at the club when I heard that people with diabetes could be more at risk potentially but he told me I was absolutely fine because I was Type 1, young and it was well controlled.
“I don’t think Type 1 is any higher risk than anyone else so I’m absolutely fine to get going.
“It has been nice to have some downtime mentally and let the body get over knocks and niggles. “But that took about three weeks and then I was ready to get back at it.
“Training will just be some running at first, which isn’t ideal but it’s better than nothing.”