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Tour-ending injury to force England into another centre combination
By Josh Raisey
Any hopes Steve Borthwick may have had of generating any sort of consistency in the centres have gone out the window as Henry Slade has been ruled out of the remainder of their tour with a hand injury, the RFU have confirmed.
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Slade started at outside centre in England’s 35-12 win in La Plata, partnering debutant Seb Atkinson for the second time in the space of a month (though the first was the uncapped fixture against France XV).
The midfield combination has been a conundrum that Borthwick has struggled to solve during his tenure, as did Eddie Jones for much of his reign. It looked likely that Atkinson and Slade would have played alongside one another for the second Test against the Pumas, and even possibly against the USA in Washington, D.C., with the aim of building some consistency.
A new player will not be drafted into the squad as a replacement, with the uncapped trio of Luke Northmore, Oscar Beard and Max Ojomoh already in the squad. This will not only mean that yet another new centre combination will be deployed in San Juan, but it will be a very green partnership, assuming Atkinson continues at inside centre.
It is unclear when Slade injured his hand, but the Independent are reporting that it is a fractured right hand sustained early in the contest. He did receive a thunderous hit from Harlequins wing Rodrigo Isgro in the opening quarter, in which his right hand was ensnared in the contact.
Slade also made seven tackles in the match, most of which were made when flying out of the line in England’s new-look ferocious defence, which may have led to the injury.
The 73-cap centre was guilty of a few handling errors late in the game, including an incident where he was unable to maintain a grip on the ball with his right hand. Given the injury he was carrying at the time, that is understandable.
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