Henry Slade is targeting an early return from shoulder surgery in an effort to play a key role in England’s autumn internationals and wants Steve Borthwick to stick with the ultra aggressive blitz defence system despite Felix Jones’s impending departure.
Slade, one of England’s vice-captains, has emerged as a defensive leader since Jones’s arrival, having been overlooked by Borthwick for last year’s World Cup. Jones’s blitz system is similar to that employed at Exeter and, as outside centre, Slade arguably has the most important role.
Despite early teething problems in the Six Nations, the system has shown promising signs – making Jones’s resignation all the more of a setback for Borthwick and his players. The Irishman has a 12-month notice period, but it remains to be seen if he will still be in situ when England host the All Blacks, Australia, South Africa and Japan in November, with the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Bill Sweeney, stating only that “we’re still going through that discussion”.
Slade is recuperating after a shoulder operation five weeks ago but while the initial prognosis was that he would miss the autumn campaign he said he is “pushing the boundaries” to ensure rapid recovery for England’s November campaign.
“I really enjoyed meeting with Felix,” said Slade. “I thought he was a really good coach. I learned quite a lot from him; we defend similarly at Exeter. It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like. We don’t know who’s coming in. You want to be involved any time you can. Hopefully there is someone fighting my corner. It was a bit of a shock, him leaving.
“I do really enjoy defending like that. It’s an incredibly aggressive way of defending, if we can keep going with that I’d be really happy. Obviously it’s not up to myself, it’s up to Steve and the coaches. Whoever comes in, if we can that would be great.
“It’s a 14-16 week injury they say normally, but I’m pushing to get that down to 12 weeks, so I’m hoping to get back for a game or two before the autumn. I’m working doubly hard, as hard as I can. Jamie Fulton, the Exeter Chiefs physio, specialises a lot in shoulders, so we’re trying to push the boundaries with what we can do as early as possible.”
Joe Marler has become the first England player to distance Borthwick’s set-up from that of his predecessor, Eddie Jones, despite fears history was repeating itself. Felix Jones is said to have harboured concerns over an “unstable working environment” and with Aled Walters and Tom Tombleson also moving on from Borthwick’s staff, comparisons have been made with the turnover that marred Eddie Jones’s tenure.
Sweeney was adamant that was not the case, however, and Marler, a guest on the For the Love of Rugby podcast, hosted by Dan Cole and Ben Youngs, said: “I don’t think it’s a fair reflection, the narrative that’s being pushed, Steve is an Eddie 2.0 and the environment is being repeated, because the environment is worlds apart from what Eddie’s became towards that second half of Eddie’s cycle, which was dark at times.
“I know you have a lot of respect for [Eddie Jones]. I also have a lot of respect for [Jones], but there were some parts of his environment that I questioned … and it’s nothing like what Steve has created.”
