By Paul Jones
One of rugby’s hottest properties, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, has chosen England over Wales and will link up with the Red Rose squad ahead of the upcoming Six Nations.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, Feyi-Waboso has informed Wales head coach Warren Gatland of his decision and will attend an England camp in the coming days.
The 21-year-old wing has been in scintillating form for Premiership team Exeter Chiefs this season after joining from Wasps when the club went into administration in 2022.
Before that Feyi-Waboso played his rugby for Cardiff but was forced to leave the Welsh side after failing to secure a place at Cardiff University to begin his medical studies.
Exeter's in-form winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso looks set to choose England over Wales in a boost for head coach Steve Borthwick before the Six Nations.#BBCRugby pic.twitter.com/gPyE2lRB5i
— BBC ScrumV (@BBCScrumV) January 7, 2024
The promising finisher, who was born in Cardiff, has impressed for the Chiefs and looks an international-in-waiting as a battle for his Test services has been a hot topic of late.
Working against Wales was the rule that does not allow a player to ply their trade outside of the country unless they have featured for the team 25 times or more.
That would have meant that a Six Nations appearance this year would lead to the wide man having to join a Welsh region for 2024/25 in order to continue his international career.
That, coupled by his medical studies in Exeter, has reportedly contributed to the wing’s eventual decision to pick England over Wales in what is a major boost to the former.
https://twitter.com/ExeterChiefs/status/1744080714113462679?s=20
Feyi-Waboso will hope to impress at the upcoming camp and force his way into Steve Borthwick’s squad for the Six Nations, with the Red Rose kicking off against Italy away.
They will then face off with Wales (home), Scotland (away), Ireland (home) and France (away) as they look to build on a solid third-place finish at the recent Rugby World Cup.
His club boss, Rob Baxter, was full of praise for the youngster after he put in a man-of-the-match shift against Bristol and backed that up on Saturday against Northampton.
“All he has got to do is play rugby and get experience, and the world is his oyster then,” he said recently.
“His rugby career will be what he chooses it to be. The opportunities are going to be there for him if he works hard at his game.
“The reality is he will need to stay relatively injury-free for periods, he will need to get a decent amount of game-time for periods, he will need to balance his studying with his rugby programme as he goes along and not get burnt out by one or the other, so there is a long way to go.”
https://twitter.com/ExeterChiefs/status/1744041205867131056?s=20