Slade revels in return to playing first-five

DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

PIVOTAL MOVE: Colin Slade will wear the Canterbury No10 jersey this season.

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Colin Slade has had to hang on to the memory of Canterbury's 2008 NPC final win for a while now.

Aside from one left-footed clearance, which he hasn't forgotten went backwards, the then 21-year-old produced an assured performance to get Canterbury home 7-6 over hosts Wellington. In fact, such was his command from first five-eighth, that a number of good judges were predicting that we'd seen the natural heir to Daniel Carter's throne.

However, Slade has hardly played in the 10 jersey since. Wing and then fullback became his lot, leaving us little the wiser about his aptness as All Blacks first-five.

Now destined for a prolonged run in that position, during Canterbury's ITM Cup campaign, perhaps we'll finally see if he's up to it after all.

"I remember that game well," Slade said of the 2008 decider. "I was not only fortunate to play 10, but to play 10 in a team that had a lot of experience. There were guys like Scott Hamilton and Paul Williams outside me and Greg Somerville was still in the team, which made it a lot easier for me as a young player coming through.

"Now I'm a bit more experienced and it's time for me to take more of a leadership role. That's where my game's probably grown since last time I played 10. I'm a bit more demanding and confident about directing the ship around."

Slade's elevation to the starting first-five's job has come at Stephen Brett's expense. But, thanks to injury problems among Canterbury's midfield contenders, Brett will play outside Slade when the team meets Hawke's Bay at AMI Stadium tomorrow night.

The new incumbent doesn't feel that Brett's presence will undermine his authority, even if the pair are yet to decide matters such as who will kick the goals. Both practised goal kicking yesterday and it won't be clear who will kick until one of them steps up to the tee.

"It'll be one of us. We wouldn't want anyone like Isaac [Ross] doing the kicking or anything like that. I'll have a chat to Stevie about it over lunch and we'll see what happens," Slade said.

"I think it [their new combination] will go pretty well. It's always good having another ball player out there with me and he'll certainly help run the team.

"It's obviously disappointing for the guys that are injured but any time you've got a chance to have an experienced guy like Stevie on the pitch, it has to be good for your team."

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