England to usher in Immanuel Feyi-Waboso this week to evaluate his shoulder as they hope so as to add reinforcements to Six Nations title bid after win over France
- Immanuel Feyi-Waboso dislocated his shoulder playing for Exeter in December
- He opted to have surgery and it was thought he would miss the Six Nations
England will bring in Immanuel Feyi-Waboso this week to assess the state of the Exeter wing’s shoulder, as they hope to add reinforcements to their Six Nations title bid after victory over France.
The 22-year-old Chiefs flier is one of several recent casualties who are on the mend and could be added to the national squad to bolster their championship campaign.
In the aftermath of his side’s dramatic 26-25 win over the hapless French at Twickenham on Saturday, Steve Borthwick confirmed that Feyi-Waboso will be summoned for a check-up, having opted to have an operation on a dislocated shoulder, only to subsequently change to a non-surgical rehab plan instead.
Asked if last year’s breakthrough sensation might be back in action soon, the head coach said: ‘Hopefully. He’s running well, rehabbing well. So now, we’ll get him in for one of our medics to see him, at the start of this week, when we are back in camp.’
Others are nearing a return, as Borthwick added: ‘I’m waiting on a full medical report, but I think Alex Dombrandt is hopefully going to be fit to play for Harlequins this week and Jack van Poortvliet is back running. I’ll get the full medical report of where’s he at. Probably not quite (ready) yet.’
After Marcus Smith suffered from a few glaring lapses in the second half of Le Crunch, there was swift speculation that his place would be in jeopardy once Northampton full-back George Furbank became available again, after a spell out with a broken arm. But that scenario may not be imminent, ahead of the Calcutta Cup showdown with Scotland at Twickenham on February 22.
England will bring in Immanuel Feyi-Waboso this week to assess the state of his shoulder
Steve Borthwick is looking to add reinforcements bid after Sturday’s victory over France
‘He (George Furbank) is going well,’ said Borthwick. ‘He had a re-X-ray on his arm last week and we are waiting on the specialist to give his view on that. Hopefully, he might be available at the end of the tournament, but we are still waiting for the specialist’s report.’ This update suggests that Furbank may not be back in contention until England host Italy on March 9, in the penultimate round of this year’s Six Nations.
Having taken advantage of France’s clumsy performance to snatch victory last Saturday, England’s players will enjoy a couple of days off before coming back into camp on Wednesday, to start the countdown to facing the Scots. They will resume training buoyed by a result which has given them a title chance.
Elliot Daly, scorer of the decisive, last-minute try, said: ‘We’ll fly into the Scotland week. You’ve got to win your home games in this tournament; we’ve got two more home games and that will put us in good stead. We haven’t beaten Scotland in the past four times, so we want to make sure we’re ready for them coming down here. They’re a good team. Every time we’ve played them recently, they’ve caused us a few issues.’
The veteran Saracens back was asked what beating the French – after a run of seven defeats in nine Tests – meant for Borthwick and added: ‘Steve is a brilliant coach.
The best thing about him is he hasn’t changed throughout the whole of this period, even when results aren’t going our way. It’s still, “We’re on the right path here, we’re doing the right thing”. We all buy into that. He’s been brilliant with us, so it’s great to get a victory for him today.’
