The Crusaders' No10 has been the form first-five of the past few weeks of Super Rugby. So well has he played, in fact, that Steve Hansen and his brains trust could do worse than pencil him in to the All Black squadfor the June series against England.
With Aaron Cruden's injury and the likely elevation of Beauden Barrett to the black No10 jersey, Slade shapes as an ideal man to bring off the bench, from where he can cover three positions. That may yet be dependent on what the selectors do with Israel Dagg, and therefore Ben Smith.
But this versatility of Slade catapulted him into the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad. Some people formed strong opinions about him based on a couple of irrelevant mistakes against Canada. Injury again struck in 2012. The guy has endured two broken jaws, a groin tear and a broken leg, all of which seems to have been held against him.
But here are the facts, in as much as one can say without stats to back them up: he punts better off his weaker (left) foot than anyone else in the country, and is also clearly the best passer off either hand of all the first-fives. They are underrated, underappreciated, and often unnoticed skills.
That was evident in his searing break against the Cheetahs which led to a try to Nemani Nadolo. Slade's 20m pass on the fly was poetry, but he is capable of that on a consistent basis. It is no surprise or coincidence that the Crusaders backs, hitherto a spluttering unit that struggled to run straight and put the pass in front of the man for much of February and March, are moving better. For all the qualities of Tyler Bleyendaal and Tom Taylor, Slade always appealed as the man to get that talented backline going, if not humming just yet.
The biggest question mark surrounding Slade was his goalkicking consistency, but he answered that emphatically last Saturday night with a match-winning six from eight against the Chiefs, albeit hitting the post with a sitter.
The time is right and ripe for the 26-year-old Cantabrian to add to his 11 test caps.
