Henry Slade set to miss start of the season for Exeter after undergoing shoulder surgery – with Premiership player of the year also unlikely to be fit for England’s autumn internationals

Henry Slade will miss the start of the new season at Exeter and is unlikely to be fit for England’s autumn internationals after undergoing shoulder surgery.

The experienced player played an excellent 2023-2024 season with his club and country, after surprisingly missing out on the national squad for last year’s World Cup.

Slade responded to his sacking by being named Premiership Player of the Year, re-establishing his position as a key player at international level.

His expected absence for the first three or four months of the 2024-25 season is a major setback for Exeter and for England.

“Henry sustained a shoulder injury earlier this year during the Guinness Six Nations while playing for England. The joint was stable, meaning Henry was able to play the remainder of the competition and return to play with us until the end of the 2023-24 season,” said Exeter Director of Rugby Rob Baxter.

The experienced midfielder is also likely to miss England’s autumn internationals

“We knew there was a slight problem, as did England, and it got a little worse during the summer tour. After rescanning the shoulder and asking Henry what he thought about his shoulder, we decided it was the right time to have the operation.

“Hopefully he can use this period to complete a solid rehabilitation period before we get back to rugby. It’s a relatively complex operation, which makes it a bit difficult to talk about his return to playing time at the moment. It’s probably going to be somewhere between three and four months, so unfortunately he’s going to miss a big part of the start of the season with us.

‘History has shown us many times that Henry is an incredible rehabilitator and he will return very fit as he is in great form for club and country.

‘While this is unfortunate, we know he will work very hard and I predict he will continue to have a big impact on us and on England next season.’

Slade started all three of England’s summer matches, including a win over Japan in Tokyo and two Test matches with New Zealand, both of which ended in narrow defeats.

He formed a promising midfield combination with Bath’s Ollie Lawrence, but manager Steve Borthwick will now have to look for a new option in the number 13 shirt.

England play New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan in November. Northampton’s Tommy Freeman, who has used Borthwick on the wing, could be an option to consider.

Slade has re-established himself as a key player for England (pictured) after shining at Exeter

Steve Borthwick’s team will play New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan in November

Borthwick will also be sweating on the fitness of Harlequins mainstay Joe Marler after he suffered a foot injury in the first Test defeat to New Zealand in Dunedin.

Meanwhile, the RFU have confirmed a second fixture for the England A team in the upcoming season, taking on an Ireland A team at Bristol’s Ashton Gate on Sunday 23 February. The confirmation of the fixture comes after the announcement that England A will take on Australia A in the upcoming autumn international window on 17 November at Twickenham Stoop.

In February this year, the England A team was reintroduced when the Red Rose junior team defeated Portugal 91-5.

RFU Executive Director Conor O’Shea said: ‘Our aim is to provide consistent game time for our emerging players in every international period.’