LONG READ ‘Can Slade do this for England? Of course he can. But he has to be empowered to do so’

So good that they named him twice. A TNT comms glitch meant that Henry Slade got two endorsements last Saturday for his man-of-the-match performance for Exeter  against Saracens, a tribute to the pervasive influence of the cherished son of Devon, a rolling back of the years for player and club, a resurrection special as the pair of them rolled back the stone and announced that they were very much alive and kicking still.

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Any neutral landing in from Mars would have assumed that 33-year-old Slade was a mainstay of the national team, an outside centre of guile and calm, an assured presence in that outside channel where pace and poise are essential, spotting space and opportunity and having the skills to execute whatever is necessary.

Slade fulfilled the role to perfection as one of the finest the game has ever known testified to it up in the commentary box. When the likes of Brian O’Driscoll is handing out the plaudits it means something, be it laser-like dissection of Slade’s try-saving tackle on Rotimi Segun – the low, double-wrap of arms round legs taking the momentum out of the Saracens’ wing’s dive for the line, textbook and then some – or the numerous occasions when Slade gave the right pass at the right time in the right place to the right attacker. You get the picture – Slade did everything right.

All of which leads us to one important question – why the hell do England not get this from Slade on a consistent basis? Don’t blame the player, saying that he’s been inconsistent or at half-cock here and there. It is the principal function of a head coach to draw the best from players at a specific time. That’s it. Pick him and play him to the best of his ability.

That’s what Rob Baxter and Dave Walder managed to do last Saturday, honing Slade, pushing the right buttons, setting the scene for him and his team-mates, and, hey presto, peak performance. Isn’t that the prime responsibility of the man at the top, be it Steve Borthwick, Eddie Jones or Stuart Lancaster? The player has got the talent – you’ve got to get it out there for the benefit of all. That it has happened only in fits and starts with Slade is one of many blights on English rugby over the last decade.

Slade is very Conrad Smith-like – understated in many ways but a master of his trade.

But it’s not too late. Slade’s all-consuming effort ought to re-calibrate Borthwick’s radar. Slade does have a central contract, but he has not been at the beating heart of conversations about the make-up of England’s midfield as they narrow down their options head of next year’s Rugby World Cup. Too old? No, not a bit of it. One of O’Driscoll’s very few equals on the Test scene over the last 20 years was Conrad Smith. The former All Black was 33 when he helped guide his country to a World Cup in 2015. Slade is very Smith-like – understated in many ways but a master of his trade. Others provide the fireworks, maybe, but the Smiths and Slades of the world are there to make sure that the blue touchpaper is lit in the first place.

We mentioned Slade’s ability to take and give a pass. So simple a term, so seemingly mundane and, yes, a bit boring. Yet listen to Northampton Saints DOR, Phil Dowson, speak of his team’s preparation ahead of the final game of the regular season against Harlequins. In a fascinating piece in The Daily Telegraph by my former colleague Dan Schofield, who was embedded at the club across the week, it was clear that the secret to Saints’ success is that there is no secret, merely that of good practice. Dowson admitted that there are very few shifts in the game plan, just tweaks now and again. It’s about doing the simple things well, again and again, at pace and under pressure.

That was Slade and Exeter’s performance in a nutshell. It’s what the All Blacks used to do at every turn. Tend to the basics and execute. There were countless examples last Saturday of Slade seeing opportunity and making it happen, be it drawing defenders to set free men outside and then tracking infield to take the try-scoring pass, as he did en route to compiling his match-shaping haul of 17 points.

Slade is the PREM’s leading points scorer this season, having taken over goal-kicking duties. It’s curious how Elliot Daly’s left boot is often mentioned when weighing up his cause for inclusion in a Test squad but less so when it comes to Slade’s tick-list of abilities. Add to that, too, the one of leadership which England are crying out for.

As Baxter noted, the big players perform on the big occasions. Slade has to believe that he is the one to help make that happen on the international stage.

There is no doubt that Slade’s leadership was instrumental in turning the tide in Exeter’s favour at the weekend. Saracens had had the better of the first half yet Slade kept probing, kept encouraging, being bold and confident enough to keep his side playing right to the half-time whistle, opting to press downfield, getting due reward with Max Norey’s decisive, result-tilting try in the death-throes of the first half.

Can Slade do this for England? Of course he can. But he has to be empowered to do so. As Baxter noted, the big players perform on the big occasions. Slade has to believe that he is the one to help make that happen on the international stage. The transition from club scene to a Test environment ought not to be the difficult leap that it appears to be.

Borthwick is not a tree-hugger but that does not mean he is incapable of inculcating the same emotional responses as Baxter managed to do. No-one would describe big Rob as a softie either, although it was clear to see how much it meant to him that Exeter should make the play-offs only 12 months after they had had their worst ever finish in ninth place, seemingly a busted flush after all those heady days at the top trophy-laden table. Baxter and Slade kept the faith and see where it got them.

Saturday’s PREM semi-final at The Rec is the perfect backdrop for Slade to show that he should be the lynchpin in Borthwick’s midfield from here through to Australia in 15 months’ time. Slade is a sounder bet than Tommy Freeman, who has so much to offer himself but so little time left to make the switch infield from wing where he is a copper-bottomed cert. Slade is still in the reckoning but the fact that the last of his 74 caps came last November against Argentina indicates where he is in the pecking order. It’s time for one last sustained Slade hurrah for club and for country.