Ed Slater
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| Date of birth | 1 August 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Leicester | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 119 kg (18 st 10 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Denbigh School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Edward Slater (born 1 August 1988 in Leicester) is an English rugby union player for Leicester Tigers.
Essentially a lock, his work-rate and physical presence (1.98m, 119 kg) have helped him earn rave reviews at second row at Leicester Tigers, resulting in call ups to the senior England side.
He began his rugby career at Milton Keynes Rugby Club before moving to Australia. He established himself at Eastern Suburbs RUFC, Sydney, NSW. It was here that he began to really improve, starting in a successful U21's side and resulting in playing 1st grade rugby for 'The Beasties'. He also enjoyed a short stint with the NSW Waratahs, where he was signed on a Junior contract.[2] After a short trial with Leicester Tigers he joined Nottingham at the opening stages of the playoff campaign. Here he played alongside current teammate Tom Youngs. His performances in the Championship playoffs and for the Tigers' development side earned him a move to his hometown club, Leicester Tigers in the summer of 2010.
He provided excellent cover for long-term injuries to England international locks Louis Deacon and Geoff Parling whilst the retirements of Ben Kay and Richard Blaze allowed Slater to break through to the first team squad. Slater's consistent performances earned him Tigers' Player of the Month award in October 2010 and he went on to make over 30 appearances for the club in his first season.[3] In the same season he helped Tigers top the leaderboard and make it to the Aviva Premiership final in the 2010-2011 season. Since then, Slater has gone on to claim his first call up to the England Saxons squad.[4]
A successful 2012/2013 campaign culminated in a Premiership winners medal for Slater where he was also rewarded for some fine form with a call up to the senior England Squad.[5] Unfortunately an injury sustained in the Aviva Premiership final ruled him out of the tour shortly after being selected.[6] He did however return the following season, captaining Leicester Tigers for the last 10 games of the season and in the process, earning a call-up to the England squad for both the 2014 Six Nations and the summer tour to New Zealand. [7] He captained England against the Canterbury Crusaders. This was Slater's first appearance for the senior England side.
He was then named captain for the Tigers in the 14/15 and 15/16 seasons although injured for the majority of the 14/15 season he came back at the end of the season and made Stuart Lancaster's World Cup 51 man training squad.[8]
References
- ^ "Aviva Premiership Rugby - Leicester Tigers". web page. Premier Rugby. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ Call-up by home club Leicester Tigers leaves Slater pinching himself
- ^ Ed Slater surprised by fine start at Leicester Tigers 17 November 2010
- ^ Saxons debut delight for Slater
- ^ Ed Slater called in to Senior England squad
- ^ Ed Slater and Calum Clark ruled out of Argentina tour
- ^ [1]
- ^ "England announce Rugby World Cup training group". englandrugby.com. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2016.