England’s build-up to their clash with Scotland has been overshadowed by escalating tension with Exeter over the calamitous handling of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s shoulder injury.
As first reported by Mail Sport on Wednesday night, the 22-year-old wing has belatedly had surgery on the dislocated joint and will miss the rest of the season. The timing of the operation means that Feyi-Waboso’s hopes of being selected for the Lions tour of Australia have been cruelly dashed.
Given that the injury occurred before Christmas, in a Premiership match against Sale, the response has been botched.
The breakthrough Test star required two scans and was left out of England’s Six Nations training squad, with national coach Steve Borthwick confirming that he was set to have an operation. But there was a further delay which led to a change of strategy, as Feyi-Waboso sought to resolve the problem with a non-surgical course of rehab.
England were optimistic that he may have been available for a comeback in the latter stages of the championship. But when the Cardiff-born flier came into camp last week for medical assessments, he suffered a setback which meant that an operation became unavoidable.
Exeter’s frustration with the process was evident as the club released a statement which read: ‘The player – who is on one of England Rugby’s enhanced EPS contracts – suffered a shoulder dislocation in December 2024. Having consulted the medical teams at England and Exeter Chiefs, Feyi-Waboso originally attempted to rehabilitate the injury.
Tensions have escalated between England and Exeter over Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s injury
Feyi-Waboso has elected to undergo shoulder surgery and will miss the rest of the season
Exeter Chiefs’ frustrations were evident in a statement outlining Feyi-Waboso’s recovery
‘However, he suffered a reinjury in England camp and has now elected to undergo surgery. Feyi-Waboso will now enter a recovery period, expected to be a minimum of 12-14 weeks.’
Despite their own concerns and alternative view of the messy saga, which undermines the new club-country PGP deal, England are at pains to avoid engaging in a war of words with Exeter.
Instead, attack coach Richard Wigglesworth explained how Feyi-Waboso suffered his ‘reinjury’, saying: ‘He came in for the test because we needed to make sure he was going to be right, so he got tested properly. It wasn’t right, so then the surgery option came. It was injured on re-testing.’
Asked if he sympathised with a young player who had genuine Lions prospects, Wigglesworth added: ‘Part of being a professional rugby player is that you have to deal with these things. There’s not many players that get a smooth career without the bumps and bruises. But knowing Manny as we do, he’ll be diligent, he’ll get back, and we’ll look forward to when he is.’
