Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s hopes of returning to action for the final rounds of the Six Nations have been ended after the England wing finally underwent surgery.
The 22-year-old dislocated his shoulder in December and had initially been due to have a procedure in January, but it was delayed as the player, England and club Exeter Chiefs considered the best approach.
Feyi-Waboso joined Steve Borthwick’s squad for a day of rehabilitation at Pennyhill Park last week with hopes that he may bolster their back three options before the end of the tournament.
But the youngster, a medical student, posted images of himself in a hospital bed this week having had surgery that could rule him out of the rest of the campaign.
“Minor setbacks, we go again,” Feyi-Waboso captioned the image, with the wing now facing a race against time to push his case for British and Irish Lions selection.
Having burst on to the scene in Exeter colours last season, Feyi-Waboso enjoyed an eye-catching first year in international colours and quickly established himself as an England starter, scoring five tries in eight Tests.
Andy Farrell is expected to name his Lions squad in late April or early May ahead of the tour to Australia, and is blessed with real strength and depth in the back three. With Exeter all but out of the play-off race, their final fixture of the season will be on 31 May.
The surgery saga brings renewed scrutiny on the professional game partnership (PGP) that was agreed between the Premiership clubs and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in September.
As part of the PGP, Borthwick was able to award a number of “enhanced EPS” contracts to give him greater control over a core group of players. Feyi-Waboso was one of the 17 initial recipients.
That gave the England head coach the final say on sports science and medical issues, yet it appears to have already caused friction in this scenario.
In January, Exeter boss Rob Baxter suggested that the debate over the best approach had prevented Feyi-Waboso’s recovery from starting.
“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,” Baxter said.
His likely absence for the next couple of months at least is another blow for a club that has struggled significantly this season. Exeter sit second-from-bottom with just two wins from 11 Premiership games.
