Henry Slade watches on as England ramp up preparations for autumn internationals

Henry Slade was a spectator at England training on Monday having proved his fitness for the autumn opener against New Zealand at Allianz Stadium.

Slade made his first appearance of the season in Exeter’s 36-19 defeat by Harlequins on Sunday, completing 55 minutes in his comeback from shoulder surgery.

Having been in action for the Chiefs less than 24 hours earlier, he watched as England stepped up preparations for the All Blacks’ visit on Saturday.

The 31-year-old is expected to continue at outside centre for the first of four Autumn Nations Series Tests due to his influence in the team’s ‘blitz’ defence.

Saracens’ in-form Alex Lozowski is his chief rival for the number 13 jersey in what would be his first appearance for England since 2018.

Head coach Steve Borthwick is scheduled to announce his team on Thursday but that could be brought forward to Tuesday afternoon if there are no outstanding injury concerns.

Borthwick has been given a headache at blindside flanker after Ollie Chessum was ruled out of the New Zealand showdown because of a knee problem.

Chessum was injured in the final session of last week’s training camp in Girona and is also likely to miss the remainder of the autumn against Australia, South Africa and Japan.

His absence creates the possibility of Sam Underhill being reunited with fellow ‘Kamikaze Kid’ Tom Curry in the back row in what would be their first appearance together since the 2023 World Cup.

Apart from how Borthwick chooses to configure his props between starters and finishers, he also faces a tough call at scrum-half where Ben Spencer, Harry Randall and Jack van Poortvliet are competing for the jersey.