Henry Slade working ‘doubly hard’ to return from injury for England’s autumn tests

Exeter Chiefs and England star Henry Slade is racing against time to find himself fit for the November internationals following a shoulder operation last month.

Having had the operation on his right shoulder just five weeks ago, the 31-year-old is currently recuperating in the west-country, surrounded by friends, family, and most importantly, shoulder specialist Jamie Fulton, the Exeter physio.

It was back in March of this year that the injury first occurred whilst playing for England when the talented centre collided with giant Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe at Murrayfield.

Despite absorbing a labral tear to his right shoulder, Slade powered through the remainder of the season, even going on tour to Japan and New Zealand. Choosing to have the operation during the off-season, Slade hopes to be back in action for the All Blacks’ visit to Twickenham on the 2nd of November.

“It’s a 14-to-16 week injury normally but I’m pushing trying to get that down to 12 weeks,” Slade said.

“I’m in week five now, 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 physio, specialises a lot in shoulders, so we’re trying to push the boundaries with what we can do as early as possible.

“It happened against Scotland in the Six Nations. I was diving to tackle Duhan van der Merwe when he scored that try when he ran the length. I dived and landed on my shoulder and felt a bit of a rip around the bottom.

“Then there was a tackle in the second half where I felt the same thing. Since then it was playing up every week – any sort of tackle was pretty sore, so I had to get it sorted ASAP. I have been tackling with my left shoulder! Passing was fine, it was more contact, tackling and carrying.”

Speaking about the recent loss of England defensive coach Felix Jones, Slade hopes that whoever comes in will build upon the progress made in recent months within the international setup.

“I really enjoyed working with Felix. I thought he was a really good coach. It was a bit of a shock him leaving but everyone has got their reasons.

“It will be interesting to see what it looks like going forward now. We don’t know who is coming in.

“You want to be involved any time you can. Hopefully there is someone fighting my corner. 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.”