Immanuel Feyi-Waboso expected to be available for England after positive hamstring scan
England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso should be fit to feature in next month's Nations Championship after a scan on a hamstring injury revealed a positive prognosis, Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said on Tuesday after the 23-year-old came off 15 minutes into the second half of Exeter's 34-28 Premiership win over Newcastle on Sunday.
Feyi-Waboso missed this year's Six Nations after hurting his hamstring in January but has started every league game for Exeter this season and has scored two tries in three Prem games for the club. He was a key part of all three of England's Nations Championship games over the summer and crossed for tries against Fiji and Argentina. He will be absent for Sunday's European Champions Cup trip to French champions Toulouse.
Baxter outlined the medical view at Exeter, saying: "How he's reporting on it post-game and yesterday [Tuesday] there's nothing I'm hearing from our physios saying there should be a long-term issue," and adding: "Had a scan, he's got some awareness there. "The scan doesn't show up too much. It's one of those things, scans tend to always show something, but actually on testing he's very good. "So we're hopeful that we can kind of almost treat the symptoms he's showing and see where he gets to over the next week or so."
On the involvement of England's medical staff, the club confirmed that, as a centrally contracted England player, national team officials have the final say over Feyi-Waboso's treatment and that he has been assessed by an England physio. Baxter also noted the timing around selection, saying: "We're in a delicate time for both parties, aren't we - it's a delicate time for us and a delicate time for England," and: "We're desperate for Manny to play because we've got some important games and England want him to be able to feature in the autumn. "Hopefully there won't be any dispute based on we'll just work on where Manny functionally is, how he feels he is, and we'll take it that way."
Exeter face selection pressure on the wings for the trip to Toulouse, with the club saying the Chiefs are without all four of their first-choice options on the wing for the trip to Toulouse, with the England winger joining Campbell Ridl, Olly Woodburn and Paul Brown-Bampoe in the treatment room. In Sunday's match Tommy Wyatt played on the left wing while Ben Hammersley came on to replace Feyi-Waboso on the right, and Sam Harris made his first Premiership start for Exeter at full-back.
Baxter acknowledged the depth challenge and listed additional wing options, saying: "We are a little stretched there, but then we've still got guys who've got Premiership experience," and: "Tommy Wyatt, Ben Hammersley, obviously Sam Harris has played some rugby for us now, so we've still got some options. "Zack Wimbush we've utilised on the wing before, Nick Lilley has played Premiership rugby on the wing before, so although they wouldn't be classed as out-and-out wingers, we have had a few guys who we've deployed on the wing."
As a centrally contracted England player, national team officials retain final authority over Feyi-Waboso's care; he has been assessed by an England physio as England prepare to play the first of their final three Nations Championship games against Australia at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium on 8 November.