Immanuel Feyi-Waboso Risks England Spot for Exeter Final

Exeter winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso stated he had no choice but to risk his England chances this summer by playing in the Premiership final just three weeks after suffering a broken jaw. The 23-year-old underwent surgery following the injury sustained during Exeter's win against Leicester at the end of May, but he was cleared to play in Saturday's defeat by Northampton.

Feyi-Waboso expressed that the quick turnaround was worth the gamble of potentially missing out on England's Nations Championship Tests against South Africa, Fiji, and Argentina. "Going into the game I was like, 'what if my jaw breaks?' But it’s a final, you have to do it," he said. "You just have to go full send and hope that the jaw stays intact and it did. I’m just happy that it hasn’t jeopardised my chances to be away with England."

After facing South Africa in Johannesburg on 4 July, England is set to play Fiji in Liverpool a week later before facing Argentina in Santiago del Estero on 18 July. Feyi-Waboso started in Exeter's 26-17 Premiership final loss at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday. He noted that despite the risk, it was his decision to participate after discussions with his surgeons.

"We were taking it week by week," he added. "You never know that you’re going to get to the final, but when the boys put in an unbelievable shift against Bath, we had to start asking questions of the surgeons. We were planning on the first game being hopefully South Africa. That would have been four or five weeks post-op and even then, the chances of my jaw healing weren’t high. Two and a half weeks post-op is even worse than that.

"We sat down with the surgeon, England, and the Chiefs. Eventually, it was all my decision, but they just laid the information out to me. They said take a direct blow to the jaw and it’s likely the repair is going to fail, but you can try."

In addition, Feyi-Waboso confirmed his involvement in an altercation with a Bath fan at the end of Exeter's semi-final win at the Recreation Ground, which began when a drink was thrown at him. Feyi-Waboso was among other injured and non-selected Chiefs players watching from the stands. "One of the fans when we were celebrating after, he was leaving at the time," Feyi-Waboso recounted. "He was absolutely fine during the match, but as soon as he was leaving he chucked a drink over me, pushed me, and threw the cup in my face. What can you do apart from rip his shirt? What can you do? So that’s it."