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Exeter’s Rob Baxter says that a decision has still to be made on whether England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso will undergo shoulder surgery.
Feyi-Waboso dislocated his shoulder while in action for Exeter just before Christmas.
England’s opening Six Nations game is against Ireland on February 1, and the 22-year-old would miss the entire tournament, given a post-surgery recovery timescale of 10-12 weeks.
Exeter rugby director Baxter confirmed that the British and Irish Lions hopeful is booked in for an operation next week, although Feyi-Waboso could opt to avoid the surgery route and concentrate on rehabilitation instead.
Andy Farrell takes the Lions to Australia this summer, with the Six Nations a major selection shop window. Feyi-Waboso has been a front-runner for one of the back-three spots because of his impact since making his Test debut last year.
Feyi-Waboso is among several England players to be awarded an enhanced elite player squad contract, with England now having a far greater say on all medical and sport science matters affecting those individuals under a new eight-year Professional Game Partnership between the Rugby Football Union and Gallagher Premiership clubs.
On that new process, Baxter said: “I think it certainly would have happened quicker (previously), without doubt.
“We had things booked, ready to go, decisions ready to be made a week ago. The process you have to go through now has certainly slowed things down.
“That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that it’s wrong, but it certainly slows things down.
“Until that operation happens, he is still working very hard rehabbing his shoulder.
“That will ultimately decide whether the operation happens, or Manny feels he has got himself to a position where the rehab is going sufficiently well so the operation doesn’t occur.
“It is an ongoing process at the moment involving Manny, our medical team and the England medical team. It’s there, it’s booked to happen, but he is not actually on the operating table yet.
“He isn’t going to be fit for the start of the Six Nations – there is zero possibility of that.
“He has barely started his rehab process really, because the toing and froing over whether he has an operation or goes for rehab is probably slowing both options down – the operation or the rehab.”
Feyi-Waboso is one of England’s most dangerous players with a strike rate of five tries in eight matches and, if fit, would have been an automatic Six Nations pick.
“There is a lot going on, isn’t there? You have got a young man who has had England recognition for the first time, he had his breakthrough season in the Premiership last year, there is a Lions tour at the end of this year,” Baxter added.
“He has picked up an injury and the decision is ‘do I try to rehab it so I could potentially be involved in the end of the Six Nations’?
“He can go one way or the other, and that will give him a clear reference point for what he is aiming for – is it the end of the England Six Nations campaign, or is it post-Six Nations, getting ready for a big end to the season that will help him drive his claim for the Lions, if that is a possibility?
“In a lot of ways, the operative route does take a lot of those ups and downs out of it.
“Then he gets it done, has proper rehab time and he knows his shoulder will be ready to go when he plays again, and he can just get on and go hard at the end of the season.
“One thing puts a full stop to it and has some certainty, the other does have lingering doubts around it. Those are his quandaries at the moment.
“It’s not for me to say ‘you do this’. You sit with a player and make the right call for them, that’s how it has to be. I am very happy backing Manny’s decision. We want the players here to want the best for them.”
