Henry Slade trains alone ahead of Italy clash

Head coach Eddie Jones on Wednesday morning names his team to face Conor O'Shea's Azzurri at St James' Park in the final game of the summer before the squad departs for Japan on September 8.

Slade took ownership of the number 13 jersey during last summer's tour to South Africa and has been first choice since until injury struck.

"Henry did some really good individual work. Looking over I saw that he was flying.

"We'll see where we get to with the feedback from this afternoon (Tuesday)," scrum coach Neal Hatley said. "We talked about him being an outside chance for Friday so we'll see where we get to with that."

Slade's Exeter team-mate Jack Nowell is a certainty to depart for the Far East without having played a single minute of rugby during the four warm-up Tests.

Already battling an ankle injury that has taken longer to heal than expected, he was then forced to spend four nights in a Treviso hospital after having his appendix removed, leaving on Sunday.

"Jack is in great spirits for a bloke who has been knocked down once or twice," Hatley said.

"If he hadn't had the appendix operation he'd have been running today, so his ankle rehabilitation has gone really well.

"Jack is great with the team and has a good sense of humour. He's an important player for us. Since he got back from hospital he's been really good around the camp."