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England centre Henry Slade says he has finally put his injury problems behind him
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Slade broke his leg and dislocated his ankle against Wasps in December
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Exeter defeated Wasps 34-23 to book their place in Aviva Premiership final
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Rob Baxter’s side have never been involved in the showpiece fixture before
Exeter Chiefs and England centre Henry Slade is confident he has put his injury problems behind him after playing a key role for Rob Baxter’s side as they dumped out Wasps to reach their first ever Aviva Premiership final.
“The first few games, I think I came back expecting to pick up where I left off and was getting frustrated by not being up to the form of pre-injury.
“I think it took a few games to get my confidence back,” revealed Slade.
“But this game and the last game I haven’t thought about it at all so that’s definitely a massive positive in my head and I now feel I’m completely over it.”
And heading into the final, Slade insisted he believes in the Chiefs despite their underdog status.
“As long as we’re there, we’ve got a shot,” said the England centre.
“We’ve got to the final; we’ve got a week to re-set ourselves and we’ll go from there. I know they (Saracens) have done the double on us this year, but we did the double on them last year. We definitely know we can beat them.
“We’ve been going well the last few weeks; we’ve had a really high work-rate and our defence has been awesome. They’re definitely a strong defensive side too, so that’ll be a key part. Last time we played them at their place, in the first half, we didn’t come out of the blocks quickly enough. We’ll try not to make the same mistake this time.
“You don’t want to put the occasion to the back of your mind because that gives you a lot of drive. It’s the Premiership final; you win that; you are champions of England. You don’t need much more motivation than that. If we make the most of the occasion, we’ll be right on it.”