Henry Slade hopes to recover from shoulder surgery in time for England’s autumn opener against New Zealand having played through the pain barrier since February.
Slade sustained a labral tear to his right shoulder during the Six Nations defeat at Murrayfield but saw out the season and even soldiered through the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand.
With the operation taking place five weeks ago, he has the chance of proving his fitness in time for the All Blacks’ visit to Twickenham on November 2 due to an accelerated rehabilitation programme.
“It’s a 14 to 16 week injury normally but I’m pushing trying to get that down to 12 weeks. I’m in week five now, so I’m hoping to get back for a game or two before the autumn,” Slade said.
“I’m working doubly hard, as hard as I can. Jamie Fulton, the Exeter physio, specialises a lot in shoulders, so we’re trying to push the boundaries with what we can do as early as possible.
“It happened against Scotland in the Six Nations. I was diving to tackle Duhan van der Merwe when he scored that try when he ran the length. I dived and landed on my shoulder and felt a bit of a rip around the bottom.
“Then there was a tackle in the second half where I felt the same thing. Since then it was playing up every week – any sort of tackle was pretty sore, so I had to get it sorted ASAP.
“I’ve been tackling with my left shoulder! Passing was fine, it was more contact, tackling and carrying.”
England may be operating with a new defensive system when the autumn arrives following the shock resignation of Felix Jones, a key member of Steve Borthwick’s backroom staff.
Slade was a cornerstone of the aggressive style of defending masterminded by Jones and he hopes it is retained even if its architect is expected to leave soon.
“I really enjoyed working with Felix. I thought he was a really good coach. It was a bit of a shock him leaving but everyone has got their reasons,” the 31-year-old centre said.
“It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like going forward now. We don’t know who’s coming in.
“You want to be involved any time you can. Hopefully there is someone fighting my corner.
“I do really enjoy defending like that. It’s an incredibly aggressive way of defending, if we can keep going with that I’d be really happy.”