Henry Slade: 'I won’t say I wasn’t pissed off. I won’t say I wasn’t annoyed'

Exeter Chiefs and England centre Henry Slade admitted to being frustrated at being left out of England’s Six Nations matchday squads, speaking candidly on For the Love of Rugby with Ben Youngs and Dan Cole.

Henry Slade has admitted the 2025 Six Nations was a testing period after he failed to play a single minute for England, despite feeling he was performing well at club level in the Gallagher PREM.

“For the England team and personally, I feel like for the team and for myself it was probably frustrating and disappointing,” Slade said. “Results-wise, obviously not what we wanted. The way the performance finished in France was an incredible performance. I think we were unlucky not to come away with a win there and I think that’s a real positive to come out of the Six Nations.”

The personal toll, however, was hard to ignore.

“But personally, I feel frustrated and disappointed really, not to play a single minute. I was a bit gutted. But that’s professional sport and you’ve got to deal with it. You’ve got to control what you can control, and that is for me how well I train each day and how well I play for Exeter now, to hopefully give myself another shot.”

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Slade did not pretend it was easy watching from the sidelines.

“Yeah, it was frustrating. I won’t say I wasn’t pissed off. I won’t say I wasn’t annoyed. Obviously, I think any player would be. Like you say, it’s difficult to feel like you’ve got that much experience and feel like you’re playing well, to then not get a shot even when things aren’t going quite well.”

Despite that frustration, the 30-year-old was clear about where responsibility lies.

“But I think you’ve just got to go with it. The coaches are doing what they think is best at the time and picking the team that they think is best prepared to win and you have to respect everything that they do because at the end of the day they’re in charge. I can’t do anything about it. All I can do is control what I can control, which is how well I’m training and how well I’m playing for Exeter.”

The situation was compounded by the lack of game time during the international window.

“The frustrating thing is during the Six Nations, obviously if you’re not playing you’re not playing at Exeter either. It was a tricky period but I guess, like I said, that’s part of rugby. You get highs and lows. You’ve just got to roll with it, deal with it and do the best you can with each scenario really.”

Slade also lifted the lid on the competitive edge inside England camps, even for those outside the matchday 23.

“I think the challenge in training was really good throughout the whole Six Nations, whoever was in the starting 23 or the non-starters. It was always a really good contest in training. We were always encouraged as the non-23 to do as well as we can and prep the team the best we can by training as well as we can. I think that’s what happened.”

He added that freedom still existed within the preparation framework.

“Obviously, there are structures you want to try and stay within because you’re trying to play as the opposition to prep the team the best you can, but that’s not to say you can’t do things like get the ball to where the space is and do whatever you want to do. I think we had very healthy competition in training.”

As one of the more senior figures in the squad, Slade explained how leadership responsibilities are now widely shared.

“I feel like there are quite a few experienced players in the team now. Even if they’re not that old in years, they’ve been around for a little while. I feel like the voices and the leadership are spread throughout the team pretty well. As a more senior player, there’s maybe an emphasis on some of us older boys to give a bit more and talk a little bit more, but I think that just comes with it. You boys know you’ve been at that stage of your career before.”

Still, the sense of frustration lingered.

“I think it’s just part of that part of your career, being able to help and speak. It was a frustrating time.”

Slade also described the selection process under England head coach Steve Borthwick.

“Steve grabs you to the side, asks you how your day’s been and then bam, you’re not playing,” joked Slade, before clarifying: “Steve will always pull you to the side individually, quietly, before he announces the team to the group and explain then and there why you’re not playing, or you can have a meeting later on with him.”