Henry Slade has been fantastic for Exeter this season © Getty Images

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Uncapped Exeter Chiefs back Henry Slade is emerging as a real contender to make England's 31-man Rugby World Cup squad.

Slade, who has had an exceptional season at Exeter, can cover 10, 13 and 15 and has been called into the England camp ahead of their match with Scotland. The prospects of Slade making his Test bow this weekend are slim, barring a remarkable run of injuries, but Stuart Lancaster has seen enough of Slade to earmark him as someone who could be a priceless commodity come the constraints of a World Cup squad.

Slade's versatility will work in his favour - as will Elliot Daly's - and after playing for the Saxons in January, he is likely to get a shot against the Barbarians on May 31, unless Exeter make the Aviva Premiership final the day previous.

"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," Lancaster said. "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.

"In your World Cup squad of 31, you absolutely have to have players who can play in different positions like Henry. You need that flexibility, it's crucial. We will have to generate training time before we throw him into a game at international level.

"In the very short term we have a chance to do that on Tuesday and Wednesday, which we've done anyway when he's been in camp. This Six Nations programme is going to finish in 12 day's time and then our World Cup camp starts on June 21. Then we've got all of June, July and August until we have to make a decision.

"Someone like Henry can be reasonably confident of being there or thereabouts."