Slade Gets England Call-Up For Scotland Clash

England have called Exeter fly-half Henry Slade into their training camp ahead of Saturday's Six Nations clash with Scotland.

Stuart Lancaster's side head in to the Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham looking to shake off the 19-9 defeat to Ireland on 1 March and 21-year-old Slade, who can operate at centre, replaces the injured Brad Barritt in the squad.

Barritt suffered an ankle sprain while on club duty with Saracens at the weekend and he may be joined on the sidelines by Leicester hooker Tom Youngs, who is struggling with a knock and may have to hand his berth to Rob Webber.

The RFU also confirmed Tigers flanker Tom Croft will miss the remainder of the tournament due to a dislocated shoulder as will Bath prop Henry Thomas, who sustained a shoulder strain against Sale.

Better news for Lancaster comes in the forms of locks Courtney Lawes and Geoff Parling, who are pushing for recalls having overcome injuries and completed full games for Northampton and Leicester respectively at the weekend.

Regarding Slade's promotion, Lancaster said: "The more I see him, the more I think he's got fantastic potential. I've always known it having seen him come through the age-group teams.

"We have a lot of competition at fly-half, but he's also adept in the centres. That's one of the options I'd like to look at for him in the future. For definite he'll be a part of our World Cup camp.

"The weekend's games gave us plenty to think about in terms of looking at guys who will have benefited from the additional game time. It's unfortunate that Brad was injured and we also wish Tom and Henry all the best for their recovery."

On the chances of Mike Brown reclaiming the full-back spot following concussion and the fitness of injury doubts Luther Burrell and Kieran Brookes, Lancaster added: "Mike trained fully last Friday while Luther and Brookes should be fit to train tomorrow. We are looking forward to two full days of training before we announce the side on Wednesday.

"Sam Burgess will also come into camp to further his experience of this environment as Bath have no game at the weekend."

Lancaster also sought to pour cold water on any potential war of words between the sides after Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg claimed England "have no respect" for Scottish rugby.

"I did read the comments and I think he was referencing some club games," said Lancaster, who represented Scotland at U19 and U21 levels.

"Certainly from my point of view one of the best performances I have seen all season was the Glasgow performance against Bath. You don't get a team who are top of the PRO12 by accident so they've clearly got a lot of good players in their team. A lot of those Glasgow players are playing for Scotland.

"Having represented Scotland (as an U19 and U21 player), I have plenty of respect for the players and what they have achieved. I can't control what other people say. From my point of view, we have a healthy regard for their team, their players and their coaching team."