Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has finally undergone shoulder surgery, leaving his hopes of being in contention for this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of Australia in the balance and ruling him out of England’s entire Six Nations campaign.
The 22-year-old sustained a dislocated shoulder in December and the confusion as to how best to treat the injury has dragged on for two months. He is one of 17 England players who were awarded enhanced contracts in October, which give Steve Borthwick the “final say” on all sports science matters.
Initially, Exeter booked Feyi-Waboso for surgery before the Chiefs’ director of rugby, Rob Baxter, revealed the winger was still deliberating whether to forgo the operation and hope rehab could enable him to return for the business end of the Six Nations.
When announcing his squad for the Six Nations on 14 January, Borthwick said Feyi-Waboso had decided to have surgery after all, only for it to emerge that he had opted against the operation and could feature in the Six Nations. He was called into England’s camp last week for a day’s rehabilitation but has now finally undergone surgery, posting images of himself in hospital on social media with an accompanying caption: “Minor setbacks, we go again.”
The saga puts the professional game partnership – which gives Borthwick a greater degree of control over players on enhanced contracts – in a questionable light. Back in January, Baxter admitted that the uncertainty over whether Feyi-Waboso would have surgery was slowing his recovery down. In January, Baxter said: “He has barely started his rehab process really, because the to-ing and fro-ing over whether he has an operation or goes for rehab is probably slowing both options down – the operation or the rehab.”
Andy Farrell is expected to name his squad for the Lions tour in late April or early May while Exeter’s final Premiership match is at the end of May. With the Chiefs unlikely to make the playoffs, Feyi-Waboso has three and a half months to return to the field during the club campaign.
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Competition for the back-three spots in the Lions squad is fierce but Feyi-Waboso was considered a strong contender before his injury setback, having scored five tries in his first eight Tests for England after bursting on to the scene during last year’s Six Nations.
