Slade aiming for 2027 World Cup place with England

Henry Slade has won 73 Test caps for England and played at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups

Henry Slade says his ambition is to play at the next World Cup for England.

The 32-year-old Exeter Chiefs centre was one of the final players to be dropped from Steve Borthwick's squad for the 2023 World Cup, having played for England in the final in 2019.

Since being left out of the World Cup squad Slade has been a regular in the England side and signed a new deal with Exeter in May 2024 that keeps him at the Prem Rugby club until the end of this season.

"Obviously [World Cups] are never a guarantee as I found out last last time around," he told BBC Sport.

"But definitely a big part of staying around is the hope that you can play in World Cups.

"So we'll see how we're going, keep moving forward, and if I keep getting picked for England then yes I'd love to go to another World Cup."

Slade's comments come amid the attempt to establish the rebel league R360.

The global franchise league has approached some of the world's top players to try to recruit them for an inaugural competition they hope will begin next October.

It has led to many of the world's leading nations stating they will not pick players for international duty if they are playing in R360.

"No-one really knows much about it," Slade said when asked if he has been approached to join the breakaway competition.

"There's been hearsay and things, there's not been loads of actual information being thrown about it.

"Obviously it's quite an exciting prospect and players' careers are short with the amounts of money being thrown around.

"The lure of playing for England is obviously a massive thing as well so if things get put on the table, you never know.

"But I love playing for England, that's a huge, huge draw that's going to keep me and probably a lot of players pretty much in the league.

"When all the info is out there, we'll make the decision, but as players right now we don't know too much."

Henry Slade has been a mainstay for Exeter's side for more than a decade

Slade's immediate focus is on Exeter and the aim of improving on their worst ever top-flight season.

Slade - who has helped Exeter win two Premiership titles and the 2020 European Champions Cup - was part of a Chiefs side that won just four league games last season and finished second from bottom - something Slade felt was "a bit of an embarrassment".

Exeter have already won more than a quarter of the points they did last season in their first two games of this campaign after drawing at Northampton and beating Newcastle last week.

"Coming back from pre-season you could sort of sense that there was a different energy in the place," he said.

"Everyone was very ready to leave last season behind us and start afresh, pick up and start again.

"I think the boys came into pre-season with a great mindset, worked really hard. The boys were in really, really good shape.

"I think we're seeing that in pushing forward with the second-half performance you see at Saints. Boys coming on strong so really pleased with how we've gone. Hopefully we can keep it going this weekend."