England are fretting over injuries to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Seb Atkinson after the pair were forced off in the Nations Championship win over Australia.
Steve Borthwick’s side produced a strong performance to beat the Wallabies 45-22, scoring more points than they had tallied ever before against their opposition.
The shine was taken off the showing, though, with Feyi-Waboso and Atkinson both requiring medical attention before being replaced. The Exeter wing had been outstanding in the first half before sustaining an ankle injury in a hip-drop tackle by Australia’s Angus Bell, who was shown a yellow card, and did not re-emerge after the interval.
Centre Atkinson, meanwhile, had to be helped off in severe discomfort with an apparent hip complaint in the second half, though Borthwick offered a more hopeful assessment of his injury – even if he is unlikely to figure next week against Japan.
“Seb looks like a hip,” head coach Borthwick said. “We don't think that's anything long-term, but he's very sore and bruised. We're talking days to recover, maybe not available next weekend, but it's really too early for me to say that.
“Manny [Feyi-Waboso] needs a little bit more investigation, we don’t quite know. There were a number of other players carrying bumps and bruises out there today.
“I think that part of that is the jump from club rugby to Test rugby that they've done in a week. I think the players have done really, really well. Test rugby’s intensity is at another level and the physicality is another level.
Atkinson had established himself as Borthwick’s first-choice No 12 across the last six Tests, and his partnership with Henry Slade worked well against the Wallabies. Fraser Dingwall and Max Ojomoh are the other inside centre options within the England squad, with the latter impressing for their ‘A’ side against an Argentina XV on Friday night.
Feyi-Waboso, meanwhile, had been an individual standout in the first half, and was replaced at the interval by Henry Pollock with Borthwick eschewing outside back cover on the bench.
While Cadan Murley and Noah Caluori will come into contention to start if Feyi-Waboso is ruled out, the England coach was pleased with Pollock’s wing performance.
“We now have to bear Henry Pollock saying playing on the wing is easy,” Borthwick joked. “And we now have to bear Henry Pollock saying he can play anywhere on the pitch.
“We suggested the front row and he said no, he didn't want to do that. He was excellent. He was excellent and now we will hear a lot about it. So, that's the downside.
“It's a huge asset. When you're making the decision about a 6-2 split on the bench or a 5-3 split on the bench and you look at your assistant coaches and say, can he genuinely play there? And they answer me yes, and [Pollock] proved that today.”
