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He may only have made his England debut a fortnight ago, but Henry Slade's journey to making the cut in the final 31-man Rugby World Cup squad started on the sidelines at Surrey Sports Park three years ago.

His inclusion in the final cut is a triumph for natural playmaking talent. Slade's Exeter Chiefs debut came at fly-half on a non-descript afternoon at London Welsh but under three years on and he is now set to play a key role in England's World Cup charge.

Though he is just 22, he appeared on Lancaster's radar three years ago. The coach was still finding his feet in the international waters while Slade was preparing to take his first tentative steps on the professional rugby scene. They have grown together.

"I remember Henry coming in to watch [training]," Lancaster said. "We were at Surrey Sports Park, right at the start of my time. John Fletcher brought Henry down and one or two others, as schoolboys, to watch training. I remember meeting him then, I remember watching him playing for the Under 20s at the World Cup, I picked him for the Saxons game, I picked him for the Barbarians last year, I picked him for the Barbarians game this year. So he's not a new kid on the block for me. I've known him for a long time."

Three years ago Slade was the starry-eyed youngster as he watched Toby Flood go through the England motions. "It all moved on pretty quick. I had to pinch myself. It was pretty special and gave me the hunger to keep pushing on and one day be in that environment. At the time Jonny Wilkinson wasn't there, so it was more Toby Flood. So it was about looking at how they managed their way around the team vocally. It gave me the first insight into what it takes to get here."

Come June 2015 and when the squad met ahead of their summer training camp, Slade was seen as having an outside shot to make the 31-man squad. Even when he came back from Denver - a fortnight training camp at the start of July - Slade thought he was going to be dropped. Lancaster assured the playmaker he was to be given longer to prove his World Cup claims and then came the debut against France on August 15.

Though Anthony Watson was handed Man of the Match, Slade's positioning and pass saw him emerge as an old head on young shoulders. There was no wide-eyed wonderment at what he was experiencing, but instead it was the sign of a playmaker in his natural environment.

"He is a quiet lad. He is not one to shout about himself, But he has just developed confidence within the group," Lancaster said. "On the field, his presence has gone through the roof. You saw that before France. You worry about first caps because you know what you are exposing them to but he was so confident leading up to game that his confidence within the game shone through, beyond what I would have expected."

"Down at Exeter I talk a lot, but coming into new environments I sort of like to ease my way in. But he just told me that you can't afford to do that as there are only a few weeks in camp," Slade said. "I realised that actually, yes, now is the time to really step that up and that is what I managed to do. I just told myself that I am like that at Exeter, and there is no reason why I shouldn't be like that here."

His selection was only rubber-stamped in the early hours of Thursday morning after a sleepless night. Heading into the meeting with Lancaster, Slade was still unsure whether he was going to make the cut but then came the welcome news.

"I didn't really know what to expect or how I was going to react either way," he recalled. "He [¬Lancaster] just said, 'You are in, congratulations' and I just said: 'Bloody Hell, thank you'. I couldn't stop smiling, I was relieved because there has been a lot of hard work and for it to pay off is really exciting and really pleasing."

Slade's focus will now be on making the team against Ireland on September 5 and then trying to break into the XV for the World Cup opener against Fiji on September 18. His ascent has already been rapid, but he needs to continue impressing and developing his presence.

"He has just developed confidence within the group," Lancaster said. "You saw that before France. You worry about first caps because you know what you are exposing them to, but he was so confident leading up to the game that his confidence within the game shone through, beyond what I would have expected. Since then, excellent. He has really opened up a lot of options for us."