Slade's year to remember

By Mark Stevens

Henry Slade readily admits that 2014 has been a year to savour, but the young Exeter Chiefs back is determined to add one final happy memory before the New Year begins.

In what has been a somewhat whirlwind 12 months for the Plymouth-born back, Slade has not established himself as a growing force within Rob Baxter’s first team, but he’s collected his first piece of major silverware with LV= Cup success in March, and he’s firmly on the radar of England head coach Stuart Lancaster.

That in itself would be more than enough to satisfy most 21-year-olds, but Slade is a driven individual and his willingness to push himself further within the game has been underlined by the way he has happily switched from his more traditional role at fly-half to that of a proven outside centre.

By his own admission, there is more to come from Slade, who this term has been lauded for great things not only by the Exeter coaching staff, but also by the likes of former England internationals Stuart Barnes, Will Greenwood and Austin Healey.

A pivotal figure in Exeter’s impressive form this term, Slade wants to round off his year to remember by helping delivering the goods in Saturday’s Aviva Premiership clash with Bath at the Recreation Ground (2pm).

Having never over come Bath in the top flight, the talented back says a victory this season would not underline the top four credentials of the Chiefs, but at the same time put to bed a nagging woe of having not defeated their nearest and dearest in league battle.

Indeed, it was not until an LV= Cup semi-final last season that the Chiefs had defeated Bath in any competition since their elevation into the Premiership back in 2010. A win that day - plus another Anglo-Welsh victory this season - means the hoodoo has been somewhat shattered by the men from Devon.

This weekend, though, Slade knows he and his fellow Chiefs face one of the acid tests of their season - and having come into the game on the back of a disappointing 18-11 loss at Sale Sharks, it’s vital Baxter’s men rediscover their winning art.

“The boys have been looking forward to this game for a while now,” said Slade, “When the fixtures came out, you tend to look at the Christmas games and who you’ll be playing. For us, it’s great that we have a local derby, but at the same time we know it’s going to be a massive test.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the way we played at Sale last week, but we’ve spoken about that in meetings and now we’re looking to put it right this weekend.”

Like the Chiefs, Bath have been enjoying a fine season to date and currently sit second in the Premiership standings having themselves claimed some notable victories along the way.

Slade knows the threat the home side will pose - particularly in the midfield where he could face lining up against the likes of Kyle Eastmond, Jonathan Joseph, Ollie Devoto and the much-talked about, Sam Burgess - and says it’s vital the Chiefs learn from their mistakes against the Sharks, if they are to conquer in the ancient Roman city.

“Whatever team they pick, we know they’ll be strong - especially in the midfield,” warned Slade. “We’ve prepared for that this week and we know they have different players who will bring different threats.

“As I said, it’ll be a massive test for us going up there. We’ve still never won there in the Premiership, but we’ve done well against the other top four sides this season, so it would be nice to get another scalp under out belts.

“As they’ve shown this season, Bath are a quality side with quality players, so we’re under no illusions about the task ahead, but we’ll give it our best shot and see what we can take from the game.”

And with head coach Baxter having delivered a detailed evaluation of his side’s failings at Sale, Slade and his team-mates are well aware of what will be needed to succeed on Saturday.

“I think what the Sale game taught us was when you are slightly off your game at this level, you’ll get punished by whoever you are playing against,” he added. ‘Sale played really well, we didn’t, and they won all the little things which when you add them up in the bigger picture, counts for an awful lot at this level.

‘Hopefully, we’ve learnt from all of that and we can go out and put things right against Bath this weekend.”