England winger's Six Nations hopes dashed

NEWS: Surgery has ended Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s hopes of playing for England in the Six Nations this season.

Feyi-Waboso has undergone shoulder surgery, leaving his hopes of being in contention for this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of Australia also in the balance and ruling him out of England’s entire Six Nations campaign.

The 22-year-old winger was injured back in December when he sustained a dislocated shoulder and the confusion as to how best to treat the injury has dragged on for two months.

He was initially booked for surgery by his club Exeter before the Chiefs’ director of rugby, Rob Baxter, revealed the winger was still deliberating whether to forgo the operation in the hope that 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.”

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.