Slade set to miss start of Six Nations

England centre Henry Slade is expected to miss the start of the Six Nations after fracturing his right ankle.

Slade was forced off in the first half of Exeter Chiefs’ victory over Leicester Tigers last weekend and sat out Sunday’s 14-7 win against Saracens.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter confirmed the centre is facing up to two months on the sidelines.

“Henry has a small fracture to his ankle around the site of the plate he had put in a couple of seasons ago when he fractured it at Wasps,” said Baxter.

“The prognosis of anything like that is six to eight weeks of healing time. There’s no information at this stage that says it will be quicker or slower than six to eight weeks.

“It’s not for me to say for which game exactly he’ll be back [for], because things can shorten up considerably towards the end of rehab time or they can relapse at the end, so it’s impossible for me to say.”

England begin their Six Nations campaign with a trip to Paris to face France on February 2.

Slade has made 27 Test appearances for England and came on as a replacement in the Rugby World Cup final loss to South Africa in November.

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