Immanuel Feyi-Waboso will miss Exeter Chiefs' final regular-season Premiership game against Saracens on Saturday after having surgery on a facial injury picked up in last week’s win at Leicester.
The 23-year-old came off with 12 minutes left in that match and later needed facial surgery, leaving Exeter to face a game that could decide whether they reach the end-of-season play-offs without one of their most dangerous runners. If Saracens win, Chiefs will be pushed out of the top four and into the chase for next season rather than the knockout rounds that start this weekend.
Exeter said the operation was agreed with England Rugby after “extensive monitoring” by the club’s medical staff and scans. That matters because England are confident Feyi-Waboso will be fit for South Africa on 4 July, a date that has already become the target as the winger tries to recover in time for the summer’s biggest test.
The worry for England is not only whether he can make that date. If Exeter do not reach the Premiership final, he is unlikely to be risked for a warm-up fixture against a France XV on 18 June, which could leave him heading into the South Africa match without any game time for more than a month. For a player whose season has already been broken up by injury, that is a hard gap to bridge.
Feyi-Waboso missed the Six Nations after hurting a hamstring while training with England in early February, and he also missed the second half of last season with a shoulder problem. That shoulder issue led to disagreement between England and Exeter over how it was handled, which is why both sides have moved carefully this time. Saturday now carries two kinds of weight for Chiefs: the result and the sight of whether they can do without him.
He was hurt in the 52nd minute at Leicester after making a tackle on Ollie Hassell-Collins, and the right side of his face was swollen at full-time. Exeter’s brief announcement did not need to say much more than that. The next answer comes on Saturday, when Saracens arrive and Chiefs learn whether their final league game is also the one that defines their season.
