Ouch! Exeter Chiefs rising star Henry Slade's painful England debut memento... NINE stitches in eyelid

This is the agonising injury suffered by rising Exeter Chiefs star Henry Slade in his first game wearing an England shirt.

The 21-year-old was one of five Chiefs players named in a large training squad preparing for the summer tour to New Zealand and the match against the Barbarians.

He did not make it onto the plane to New Zealand, with the likes of the much more experienced Owen Farrell, Stephen Myler, Freddie Burns and Danny Cipriani ahead of him in the pecking order.

However, he was selected as vice-captain for the non-capped international against the Barbarians at Twickenham last Sunday, which England lost 39-29, and his picture adorned the front page of the match-day programme, showing he has firmly arrived on the international stage.

"I was pleased with how my game went individually, and as a team. We showed a lot of composure. There was a massive gulf in experience, but I thought we played well and we were in it for pretty much the whole match,” said Plymouth-born Slade.

It was a painful final match of the campaign for Slade, who had to go off the field for treatment after getting smashed in the eye while tackling big Kiwi centre Rene Ranger midway through the first half. He turned up at the after-match press conference sporting a nasty-looking black eye, which needed nine stitches (inset picture).

“He is a pretty tough bloke and I was just trying to bring him down, and thankfully I managed to do that, but his knee or one of his boots hit me in the eye,” explained Slade.

“I do enjoy defence though and it is probably one of my favourite parts of the game.” It has been an incredible 12 months for Slade, who began it by winning the Junior World Championship with England in France last June.

See more at: http://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/experience-key-slade/