By Mark Stevens

Henry Slade believes England deserved more credit for their performances this autumn, insisting it was ‘small margins’ that prevented them from truly making their mark against the southern hemisphere’s elite.
Having lost in the dying embers to both New Zealand (24-22) and Australia (42-37) at the start of last month, a third defeat to world champions South Africa (29-20) followed before they wrapped the series up with victory over Japan (59-14).
Slade – one of 17 players to be handed the new hybrid contracts by the RFU as part of the Men’s Professional Game Partnership – st...