Henry Slade: ‘I’m not small but my game is putting others in space’

The Exeter playmaker is finally becoming a regular at 13 for England, and his guile is a welcome counterpoint to the pure power currently dominating the gameNothing more succinctly sums up the state of the professional game than Henry Slade’s belief that he is relatively small for a centre. Exeter’s England international is 6ft 4in and weighs more than 15st, taller and heavier than most second rows not long before the 25-year-old was born, but not sufficiently bulky to be tasked with battering his way into traffic and over the gainline.Slade is a playmaker – not quite a species on the brink of…