'I watched it without getting too animated, but I care deeply'

If proof was needed that Henry Slade isn’t far from a return to the pitch with Exeter following the summer shoulder surgery that ruled him out from the England tour to Australia, then last Saturday’s rumbustious reaction to Patrick Schickerling’s last-gasp matchwinner was all that needed to be seen.

The game looked up for the Chiefs, as they trailed champions Leicester at Sandy Park with the clock in the red. However, the replacement prop’s try instantly changed everything and the exuberant reaction high up in the stands was captured by an eagle-eyed CameraSport photographer.

There was Slade with his arms punching the air in delight and a beaming smile across his face, a reaction mirrored by those around him – including Exeter club colleague Stuart Hogg. The pair had been together nine days earlier, sent to London by the Chiefs as their player representatives at the official new season launch of the latest Gallagher Premiership.

Slade couldn’t help being mischievous when it came to taking a humorous swipe at his travelling companion. “He knew today we coming up so he got his missus to fake tan him last night, so he looking orange today,” quipped Slade when interviewed by RugbyPass after the snappers had done their work and it was time to mingle with the written media present at Twickenham. “He is looking good in pictures but it’s not real.”

In contrast, Slade’s bronzed complexion was the real deal. The week before he had been on honeymoon in Mykonos, the break coming after he had built in big rehabilitation blocks on either side of his early August marriage to Megan.

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The plan was originally to go on tour with England in July before the matrimonial arrangements kicked in. Instead, it was at the start of June when he posted a post-operation social media picture from his hospital bed that revealed he had surgery and wouldn’t be in the mix to tour with Eddie Jones’ squad. “Been waiting a while but finally found an opportunity to get the shoulder sorted. Excited to get stuck into my rehab and come back stronger,” he wrote at the time about an injury that caused the England regular to miss his first chunk of Test action for his country since the 2018 Six Nations.

The lay-offs – four years apart – were linked. It was January that year when the left shoulder injury first materialised, Slade coming off worse when involved in a tackle with Jonny Gray, who is now his Exeter teammate but back then was playing for Glasgow. At the time he found a way to get playing without the shoulder ever being 100 per cent perfect.

That’s quite an achievement when you remember that Slade has featured in a World Cup final and won a double with Exeter since then. However, 15 months out from the next World Cup in France, it was finally decided to stop playing on with the problem and to finally get it fully mended.

“I could have continued on with it but it had been a while and it was really starting to affect me a bit more, so it was time to do it,” he explained. “It was something that would never fix itself, it was something that would have to be fixed at some point but now was time.

“I guess anyone you speak to has got something they are playing through. Yeah, it was a while ago and yeah it was affecting me more and more so I said enough is enough, now is the time and it’s just to get myself back fully fit. I’m excited to get it sorted and I’m nearly through my rehab now.

“I was straight in for the operation and was rehabbing until last week [the end of August] when I had my honeymoon, I got married this summer. I had my honeymoon, so that was my off-season. On the whole, I’m pretty good at getting away from rugby and when I get home switching off. We have a young daughter, so she helps with that, and there are a few bits with the boys here and there when I can. It’s been a good summer.”

The downside was having to watch the three-Test England tour on TV. “I watched all the games. It’s hard to watch from a personal perspective but it was great to see them do so well because you always want to be part of a successful side and I was really happy to see them come away with a series win.

“I was able to sit down and watch it without getting too animated, but I care deeply about how they do. It was hard to watch from a personal perspective but good to see the boys win.”

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The upside, though, was the England coaches keeping Slade in the loop, even visiting Exeter on August 31, and being at the club for a rare full pre-season even if he was training separately with some fellow injury rehabbers away from the main group. “We have had contact with the coaches and he [Jones] actually came down for a catch-up. It’s good to hear from him and the other guys. They are quite good at that, seeing how you are and checking in with you.

“I’m getting there. I’m in the latter stages of rehab now so in the next few weeks I will be good to go. I haven’t really had a pre-season because I haven’t been in training, but in terms of being at the club for a pre-season it has been different, it has been really good. It’s been good to get up to the meetings, to see a bit of training and see what the boys have been doing. It’s something I haven’t been able to do for a while.

“I’m doing my own gym work, my own running work. There is a good group of us injured in rehab at the same time who do the same stuff. We are separate from the main squad but it has been good. We used to miss the pre-season meetings (due to international commitments) but to have been there now was really good.

“The energy around the place is very positive, very good. From what I have seen the boys have been going hard and looking forward to the season. We lost a few boys from last year but have signed some really good exciting players and have also got a lot of the same boys here from the last few seasons.

“On the whole, a very unchanged squad but we have added to it and the boys who have come in have really bought into what we do. It’s positive energy and they look like they are really decent players as well.

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“A couple of the South African guys [Ruben van Heerden, Aidon Davis] have been unfortunate, they picked up little niggles and have rehabbed with us guys, so I have got to see them and they are both top lads, big boys who are going to add a lot.

“Rory O’Loughlin in the centre seems like a really good guy… there are some exciting boys there. Solomone Kata looks like a really impressive tackler and carrier. We are excited to see how he goes as well. So some really good boys, some really good characters.”

Last term was a sobering experience for Exeter and Slade. They failed to reach the Premiership playoffs for the first time since 2015 while they were also unusually ineffective in Europe. Long-serving director of rugby Rob Baxter has since opted to have a lesser hands-on role and with the World Cup the incentive for the likes of stellar talents such as Slade, there is every ambition for the Chiefs to remind their rivals that they are still a powerhouse of the English game.

“It was a tough year for a number of reasons and the inconsistency was something that was very frustrating,” reflected Slade on what happened to Exeter in 2021/22. “I didn’t quite put a finger on it but we have had a fairly good reset this season, we have had some good honest chats as players, as players and coaches at the end of last season and the start of this pre-season.

“That has put us in a good position with a good energy about the team. The challenge will be now pushing forward into matches, can we maintain that regardless of what happens? Last season we had a couple of bad results at the start of the year and we probably let it affect us more than we thought… but it’s an exciting time for the club, a time to reset, a time to get to better and grow.

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“We had a period of sustained success and to have that sort of dip last year gives us a real natural reset to get back. I’m excited to see how we do with the club this year and obviously with that comes the international stuff. I have to put my hand up by playing as well as I can for Exeter, it will help me to be seen in a good light.

“There is a World Cup at the end of the year which is a massive carrot, something that I would be dying to be involved in, dying to be a part of… and the reset has given us a new start just trying to get better and better all the time. That is what we have got to get back to, getting better each training session, getting better each day, each week and each game and not letting the ups and downs affect us.”

Ups and downs were crystal at the recent new season Premiership function in London. Whereas so many clubs talked optimistically that day about the weeks and months ahead, the grim story about the finances at Worcester hijacked the official Twickenham launch, a situation not lost on the 29-year-old Slade who has been around the league since his April 2013 debut for Exeter.

“Seeing the things circulate at the minute around Worcester, the uncertainty there and how hard that must be for the players and all the guys involved there, it is very reassuring for us Exeter boys as a group to see the progress being made on and off the pitch the last few seasons at the club. It’s a great place to be as a player and I’m grateful.”