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

The experienced centre forward had a good season with his club and country in the 2023-24 season after not being included in the national team squad in last year’s World Cup.

Slade responded to his England departure by being named Premier League Player of the Year and re-established himself as a prominent figure at international level.

His predicted absence for the first three or four months of the 2024-25 season will be a major blow for Exeter as well as England.

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

Henry Slade will miss the start of the season at Exeter after undergoing shoulder surgery

The experienced centre-back is also likely to miss England’s autumn internationals

‘As in England we knew there was a slight problem and it got worse over the summer tour. After a rescan of the shoulder and checking how Henry was feeling with his shoulder we decided now was the right time to operate.

‘Hopefully he can use this downtime to complete a strong rehabilitation period before returning to rugby. It’s a relatively complex operation which makes it a bit difficult to talk about his return to game time at this stage. It’s probably going to be in the three to four month range so unfortunately he’ll miss a significant part of the start of the season with us.

‘History has taught us many times that Henry is an incredibly good rehabilitator. He will come back in great form as he has been in fantastic form for club and country.

‘Although it’s unfortunate, we know he will work hard. I foresee him making a huge impact for us and England next season.’

Slade started in all three of England’s summer tour matches, including the win against Japan in Tokyo and the two Test matches against New Zealand; both ended in narrow defeats.

He formed a promising midfield combination with Bath’s Ollie Lawrence but national team manager Steve Borthwick will now need to look at a new option for the No. 13 shirt.

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

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

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

Borthwick will also boast the fitness of Harlequins prop Joe Marler, who suffered a foot injury in the first Test match against New Zealand in Dunedin.

Meanwhile, the RFU have confirmed a second fixture for England A next season. They will face Ireland A at Ashton Gate in Bristol on Sunday, February 23. The confirmation of the match comes after it was announced that England A will face Australia A at Twickenham Stoop on November 17 in the upcoming autumn international window.

England’s senior team returned to action in February this year when the young Red Roses beat Portugal 91-5.

“Our aim is to ensure our emerging players are consistently playing in every international period,” RFU Performance Director Conor O’Shea said.