JEREMY GUSCOTT
OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK
IMMANUEL Feyi-Waboso was a pretty unknown factor before the Six Nations, but the 21-year-old winger’s rise from Cardiff Academy, Exeter University, Taunton Titans, to Exeter Chiefs, and then to represent England, all of it in just 18 months, is phenomenal.
Feyi-Waboso has probably had only 25 first-class games, including three Test appearances, but he’s quick and so incredibly explosive that he is creating headaches against even the best international defences. He’s like a coiled spring, and it makes him incredibly difficult to contain.
You can see that defenders very often think they’ve got him, but his dynamism and low centre of gravity means that he stays on his feet – or bounces back up instantly – to put an even bigger dent in the gain-line by making another 10 metres.
Feyi-Waboso is 5ft 11ins and 14st 11lbs (94kg), and so powerful at close quarters that he breaks the grip of tacklers – and his ability to change direction at speed, and do it so abruptly, adds up to a combination of factors which make him very difficult to pin down. It is why he either creates tries, or scores them, and has been inspirational for Exeter this season.
In Exeter’s European Cup round of 16 win over Bath at Sandy Park last weekend, Feyi-Waboso was more creator than finisher, opening the door for the second-half tries by Greg Fisilau and Ethan Roots that saw the Chiefs go through to face Toulouse in an away quarter-final in south-west France today.
He pinballed his way through the Bath defence for a 90 metre carrying total, breaking the line almost every time he got the ball in a man-of-thematch performance.
There are so many wingers who are dragged into touch when they get the ball near the touchline, but Feyi-Waboso uses all his strength to stay alive, and he definitely doesn’t go into touch easily. This was typified by the way he angled infield and made such crucial inroads into the Ireland 22 in the build-up to England’s last-gasp winning drop-goal at Twickenham last month.
Steve Borthwick deserves praise for backing Feyi-Waboso, but the youngster repaid the England head coach by taking his chance with both hands. Even so, he’s still something of an unknown quantity because it’s so early in his career.
Like every professional player Feyi-Waboso will have to work hard on all areas, because maintaining top-end consistency is difficult. It’s even more difficult when, like him, you are working for a medical degree – with Jamie Roberts one of the few international players who have managed to do both.
What Feyi-Waboso’s done so far is very impressive, and you get the sense of a young man embarking on a challenging course of actio
