Hard work pays off for Slade

By Steve Grace
25/11/17

Henry Slade feels England's hard work in training means they are continuing on an upward curve after his side's 48-14 win over Samoa sealed a clean sweep of victories in the 2017 Old Mutual Wealth Series.

England scored seven tries with Mike Brown, Alex Lozowski, Charlie Ewels, Elliot Daly (2), Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni all going over to make it nine wins from 10 Test matches in 2017.

And despite the Exeter centre feeling a little frustrated at times with England's performance he believes his team-mates showed they have progressed significantly over the last couple of years.

"The game was frustrating in parts because we created a lot of opportunities," Slade said. "In the second half we were much better in terms of our intensity, but in the first half we were forcing things a bit too much. In the end a 48-14 scoreline is a decent result.

"It shows where we're going as a side. The last couple of years we've been on an upward curve and we're still going up. We get our heads down and work hard in training every week. It shows on game days when we play well off each other."

Slade, 24, scored his second international try in the 70th minute of the match, running a superb line off Ben Youngs to slice through the Samoan defence. Slade revealed that on a personal level he was delighted with his start to the season and was grateful to head coach Eddie Jones for giving him a start in two out of the three matches of the Old Mutual Wealth Series.

He said: "I'm really pleased with how this season has started at international and club level for Exeter. I'm feeling good about my game and myself and I'm thankful that I've had some game time with England during the Old Mutual Wealth Series. Hopefully, I can now go back to Exeter Chiefs and keep on pushing myself."