Immanuel Feyi-Waboso will miss England’s training camp in York this week in order to prioritise his medical studies and attend an exam at Exeter University in person.
Feyi-Waboso’s 19-minute cameo from the bench last Saturday was one of the few bright spots for England in another miserable defeat by Scotland. The 21-year-old scored his first England try in the 66th minute and afterwards was singled out for praise by the Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend.
The 21-year-old has made two England appearances to date, as a replacement against Italy and against Scotland, but with Steve Borthwick expected to make changes after his side’s error-strewn performance at Murrayfield, the Exeter winger will come under consideration for a first start.
His absence this week may not help in that regard but Borthwick has been particularly impressed by how Feyi-Waboso has applied himself while in camp, juggling rugby commitments with his studies, and it is unlikely to count against him. Will Muir has been added to the squad in his place this week.
Feyi-Waboso, who made two appearances for Wasps two years ago, is currently in the first year of his medicine degree after starting over following his move to Exeter, and is a man of many talents, having been heard impressing his teammates with his piano-playing skills at the England team hotel in Edinburgh.
“I wanted to start from year one again because I’ll be playing a lot, getting used to full-time rugby and full-time medicine,” he said during the first fallow week of this year’s Six Nations. “I’d rather just start again from scratch, and go again.
“A lot of it is theory in years one to three. Obviously there’s the odd placement and stuff in GPs. But it’s just like systems, musculoskeletal system, endocrinology, reproductive system, stuff like that. Cool stuff. But a lot of theory. So I’m able to manage it a lot more, I’m able to manage it better with rugby at the moment.”
Elsewhere, Tom Pearson is added to the squad after an impressive try-scoring performance in England A’s rout of Portugal last Sunday in place of Ben Curry, who sustained an injury in training last week. Marcus Smith and Alex Mitchell have been called into camp to continue their rehab from calf and knee injuries respectively.
England remain hopeful that fly-half Smith will come into contention to face Ireland on Saturday week while Mitchell could also feature, though the following week’s trip to France may be more realistic.
