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Japan’s need for speed has Henry Slade on red alert

Exeter's Henry Slade in action for England last Saturday in France (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

England vice-captain Henry Slade has singled out his likely opposite number Dylan Riley as a key threat for Japan in Saturday’s anticipated first official Test match between the two nations to be played in Japan.

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Slade, 31, who, with 62 caps under his belt, is one of the most experienced players in a youthful looking squad, starts at outside-centre in a game which fans in the UK and Ireland can watch for free on RugbyPass.TV

The Gallagher Premiership 2023-24 Player of the Yearwas named in head coach Steve Borthwick’s line-up on Tuesday morning.

Slade told Rugby Pass: “They’re always tough games against Japan, they play with a lot of speed and they like to move the ball which is always a challenge for the defence.

“These are the games I enjoy playing in and defensively as an outside-centre it’s the teams who play with width that are the toughest to play against.”

Slade is aware of the threat history-seeking Japan poses as they aim to topple England for the first time and identified Dylan Riley, who is expected to feature at 13 when their team is named, as a player that commands his attention.

“Japan has threats all over the team but in my position, Dylan Riley is a very good attacking player and we’ll have to be very good to stop him,” said the standout Exeter Chiefs star.

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Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights’ Riley scored 14 tries this season in League One as his side was narrowly defeated in the final by Michael Leitch and Richie Mo’unga’s Toshiba Brave Lupus.

The dynamic former Australia u20s international, who can also play on the wing, featured off the bench for his adopted country in their loss to England at the Rugby World Cup in France.

Japan’s evergreen hero Leitch was also singled out by Slade who said: “Leitch, the long-time captain, is a talisman for his side.”

Slade and a host of his teammates are relishing the prospect of coming up against their former coach Eddie Jones who takes charge of the Brave Blossoms for the first time since returning to the role in December.

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“It’s exciting to go up against Eddie who coached us for a long time,” he said.

“He was a fantastic coach for us for a number of years and he gave me a lot of opportunities and I’ll always be grateful for that.”

With a bumper crowd expected at the National Stadium in Tokyo, which attracted 56,000 fans for the League One final in May, Slade stressed the importance of England not being distracted from their own game plan as Jones looks to mark his return by recording an upset over his former employers.

“We are just focusing on ourselves and planning to bring the best game we can bring.

“We know Japan is a good side and will cause any team problems.”

The draw of Jones’ first game back and the chance of earning a scalp over England – a side ranked seven places higher – has captured the attention of Japanese fans who are keen to see a return to the “super-fast” brand of rugby they enjoyed during the Australian’s first reign.

The new-look Brave Blossoms squad is replete with League One stars and Slade praised the growth of Japan’s domestic game – which you can watch free in the UK and Ireland on Rugby Pass.

“We’ve seen plenty of highlights of League One and we’ve done our pre-game analysis of that footage.

“The league is constantly improving all the time and they have some fantastic players here including some of the best in the world.”

 

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Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

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My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

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Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

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Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

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JW 2 hours ago
The raw data that proves Super Rugby Pacific is currently a cut above

Your links are private if you were intending them to be shared.


URC us doing very well with it’s competitiveness given that each group has it’s own salary caps and entirely different makeups, from clubs, to provinces, to franchises and regions. One group might be teams from the most populace country with the biggest rugby base while another the smallest, with the least amount of rugby players to chose from.

On average, just about one SRP game every weekend has been decided in the last five minutes!

I would also be interested in a average clock length (don’t need to go into the whole BIP hole) showing how long the last phases are taking (because one team is trying to still alter the match points outcome in some way) to complete before the game finally ends. I don’t know if its more common this year but in general I wonder if its a stat that can show how good games are/were?

17.7%

You really had the same reversed 10 points lead % as you had lead changes after the 75th?


Some of these values while standing out numerically against each other have a much less correlative impact than some that tighter differences which might only stick out a small amount. While SRP’s ones might not necessarily be such examples (and here I’m still going off the basic principle that everyone knew this was happening, even though I was challenged about that assumption) they have had the advantage of the fixtures being were doctored even more than normal. In this instance its irrelevant whether they were doctored or not of course, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that there hasn’t been a lot of cross over of worst v best yet. Maybe it just feels like that because the worst are so much better this year? I definitely think that it is undeniable that all the bottom teams (that remain) have gotten better.


So I would be very interested in another weight graph of the games still, but regardless I don’t think it’s fair for SRP to claim anything over the other leagues yet. Certainly as I have said numerous times about the Top 14, it’s sub par compared to what it’s billed up to be, but that is the only league in this group that has promotion and relegation, which is the antitheses of a competitive league, so a trade off there.


Thank you very much for sharing your research though Dmitri, I hope you find another topic to get interested about!

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