If the sight of Henry Slade proving his fitness before the opening stanza of the Autumn Nations Series on Saturday was a boost for the national head coach, Steve Borthwick, there was only more pain for the out-of-sorts Chiefs as they endured a club-record sixth successive league defeat.
Slade, playing his first game since mid-July after shoulder surgery, was busy on both sides of the ball and played 54 minutes before being whistled ashore. England are desperate to pick him in their midfield against New Zealand if possible and the chances of him performing some kind of role against the All Blacks have duly been enhanced.
A six-day turnaround is far from ideal but Slade stressed afterwards that he would be available for selection. "It's an exciting week," the 31-year-old said. "I look forward to putting my best foot forward and hopefully I'm involved."
Exeter's director of rugby also confirmed Slade reported no post-match problems with his shoulder. Rob Baxter said: "For a guy who's been out as long as he has, he looked pretty good, didn't he? He got some good game minutes into him and he's come off without injury. He looked a little bit rusty but that's to be expected."
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