Henry Slade admits that new competition R360 ‘sounds exciting’ but says he still has the ‘fire’ to pursue his own ambitions for club and country.

On Tuesday, the governing unions of eight tier one nations including England, Ireland and Scotland released a joint statement warning any players who join the rebel circuit will be ineligible for international selection.

R360 is a new franchise league being fronted by England’s 2003 World Cup winner Mike Tindall, consistent of 12 teams based in major cities around the world.

Slade, who has 73 Test caps for England, has been one of the big names linked with the new competition.

“Well no one’s heard too much about it,” he said. “But I think on the premise of it, it sounds exciting for the game of rugby.

“I think people are always trying to find ways to bring more people into the sport and to engage more and more fans. I think it’s maybe a way of doing that.

“I guess, especially when you’re a younger player, you probably haven’t had a chance to achieve what you want to achieve yet [so being ineligible for international selection may be a deterrent].

“But that fire never goes even when you get older. I can’t speak on behalf of everyone, everyone’s different, we’ll see. The aspiration to play for your country will never leave you.

“Obviously, a rugby player’s career is short, so you do have to think about your family and your financials,” the 32-year-old said.

“But playing for England, yeah, unbelievable.”

The Exeter Chiefs centre missed out on Lions selection over the summer but was part of the England tour to Argentina where the Roses won both games.

Slade is hoping to be back in an England shirt for the Autumn Nations Series, with the first game against Australia at Twickenham on November 1.

“We’ve got so much strength and depth,” Slade said. “Obviously with the Lions boys being away in the summer, they were did well down in Australia.

“But the rest of us who went to Argentina, I think we showed some real character to come away with the wins there.”

“I think the squad is in a really good position and hopefully we can kick on. There’s so many good players across the pitch but in the centres as well.

“Lots of options, so I’ve just got to keep trucking away, keep putting my hand up, keep going as hard as I can and who knows.”

Slade will also be keen to keep justifying his spot in the team as they head towards the Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.

The prospect of making his third World Cup squad after missing out in 2023 is also an extra motivator for the centre, but he acknowledged “there’s a lot of rugby to be played until then.”

Henry Slade was speaking to Sky Sports as part of the Tackle Diabetes campaign to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes, address misunderstanding and stigma and highlight the importance of early detection.