Steve Borthwick has often said Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is taking everything about his rapid rise to the international stage in his stride and though his performances back that up the 21-year-old winger has a confession to make. Asked if anything has fazed him he says: “All of it. All the hotels we stay at. The food, the chefs, everywhere we go. Chartered flights. Coaches, players, being around all the big names and seeing them every day. It’s still weird.”
It is little surprise to hear someone who has played 18 matches for Exeter – “that actually feels like quite a lot” – and now three for England, having shone on his first start in the win over Ireland, speak so honestly about making the step up. Less than 12 months ago, he was turning out for Taunton in National League One but on Saturday he was among England’s best players in their most impressive victory under Borthwick.
He is not the first young winger to be thrust into the England team of late but whereas Henry Arundell would find himself on the periphery for large spells, Feyi-Waboso benefits from the fact Borthwick’s side want to play expansively and he is someone who goes looking for the ball. Against Ireland, he made nine carries for 70 metres – beaten only by George Furbank and Ben Earl – and he showed up well defensively. It was his break down the right wing in the final minute that put England into Ireland’s 22 and laid the platform from which Marcus Smith scored the winning points.
“The whole experience was crazy, the ups and downs, hearing ‘Swing Low’ in the stadium,” Feyi-Waboso says, “I didn’t think you’d hear it because you’re in the zone but during breaks in play, it’s crazy when you hear that. I think I had goose bumps on the pitch when I heard that.
“It does get you up. It felt like we were in control of that game. Amazing. Even now it’s a fairytale.
“Starting, I was definitely more nervous the day before. But then you get lots of clarity from the coaches, you know, roughly, what’s coming. When the coaches are telling you to get the ball in your hands you just feel a lot more comfortable.”
Making Feyi-Waboso’s performance all the more impressive, he missed the training camp in York in the second fallow week of the Six Nations to take a medical exam at Exeter university. “Practicals on actors with examiners in the room,” he says, but nothing compared to Saturday. “A lot less stressful, a lot less.
“It was a rollercoaster of emotions [against Ireland]. It’s definitely faster, more physical. I feel like mistakes definitely get punished, especially against a team like Ireland. They’re very good at that. But the boys stuck together. When we did make mistakes, we got together and had a next-job mentality.”
His first start was particularly sweet because he was able to celebrate at Twickenham with a sizeable family contingent – “I think it was 11 of us” – and the furore over his decision to choose England instead of Wales, having been born in Cardiff, has now disappeared. “[My Welsh mates] have calmed down,” he says. “I’m glad that has settled down, it seems like people have forgotten all that. It was [tricky for a couple of weeks], but I deleted a lot of social media. It was worse leading up to the Welsh game and I didn’t get on so it died down after that.
“It’s been crazy. When I first joined Chiefs last year they said: ‘We’ll put you on loan, you’re in Nat 1 with Taunton.’ I needed to find my way into that team, preseason with Chiefs, find my way into that team, found my way into Chiefs and then you’re into the next step up quite quickly.”
