Henry Slade ruled out of England tour to leave Steve Borthwick facing midfield decision

Henry Slade has been ruled out of the remainder of England’s tour of Argentina and the USA after suffering a fractured right hand.

The Exeter Chiefs centre is believed to have suffered the injury relatively early in the 35-12 first Test victory over Los Pumas in La Plata.

While he played 80 minutes, he was later seen with his hand strapped up and after undergoing a scan on Sunday, he has been ruled out of the second Test, as well as the clash with the USA in Washington DC.

Steve Borthwick and his coaching staff have decided against calling up a replacement for Slade, with four centres still remaining in the squad.

Gloucester’s Seb Atkinson made his debut in La Plata, while the other three centres – Harlequins pair Luke Northmore and Oscar Beard, as well as Bath’s Max Ojomoh – are all uncapped.

It would suggest that the midfield combination for the second Test in San Juan will have an inexperienced feel to it, while Borthwick will also now need to make a call over fly-half cover for George Ford.

Slade was next in line if anything had happened to England’s newest centurion in the first Test, while 23-year-old Charlie Atkinson, who is also uncapped, is the only other specialist fly-half in the squad.

Prior to the tour, Borthwick had also mentioned Bath scrum-half Ben Spencer as a player capable of filling in at fly-half if required.

England will look to back up a fine first Test display when they head to San Juan, with a number of players putting their hands up for starting roles going forwards, even once the 13 players currently on Lions duty come back into the mix.

Tom Roebuck, the Sale winger, was one such player to stake a claim, grabbing two tries and showing his aerial prowess and he wants the team to use the victory as a springboard to greater things.

He said: “We’ll take confidence in that win; we want to keep building momentum. But we also know that Argentina is a very good side and you only have to look back to that Lions game to prove it. We’re very aware of the threat they bring. That win makes us want to build on it.

“We spoke about playing smart rugby, tactical rugby, keeping them pinned back and in that cage if you want. You want to take that energy away from the crowd, they are giving them all that passion and energy to go and do it so if you can keep pushing them back, it takes the crowd out of it a bit.

“We played in this one, we’ve got the shirt as it is. But there is obviously a handful of players that are going to come back in over the next year, and they are going to want their shirts back. So, for us, it’s about how well can we play, can we stake our claims to try to keep our shirt?”

Argentina, meanwhile, have called for reinforcements following the first Test defeat, notably with the inclusion of future Harlequins lock or flanker Guido Petti in their squad.

A standout performer for Bordeaux-Begles as they won the Investec Champions Cup this season, he arrives after playing in the Top 14 final just over a week ago.

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Sportsbeat