Baxter to hold talks with RFU over handling of Feyi-Waboso situation

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that he will meet with the RFU after the Guinness Six Nations to discuss his concerns about the delayed operation that appears to have cost winger Manny Feyi-Waboso a place on the British and Irish Lions tour.

Cardiff-born medical student Feyi-Waboso, 22, faces around three months on the sidelines after a belated operation on a shoulder joint injury that he suffered against Sale Sharks before Christmas.

Feyi-Waboso is one of the 17 England players who were handed enhanced contracts in October. Crucially, these contracts give England coach Steve Borthwick the “final say” on all sports science matters.

Exeter wanted the winger, who has scored five tries in nine games for England, to have an operation over Christmas, but it got delayed until last week because of the availability of surgeons and Feyi-Waboso getting a tooth infection.

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Baxter says he will speak to Borthwick and Executive Director of Performance Rugby for the RFU, Conor O’Shea, after the Six Nations to try and avoid a repeat of the same fiasco in the future.

“I met Steve and Conor a few weeks ago, and look, there’s clearly some things that are not quite aligned, particularly at the start of the process, and let’s discuss this post the Six Nations, not mid-Six Nations.

“Let’s sit down and see if there are things we can tick off and learn from and get ready. You know, at the end of the day, there was always going to be some teething issues, wasn’t there? Because initially, however, you want to look at it, it’s probably caught England a bit by surprise as well.

“Is it important for that whole structure between all the clubs and the RFU that you do all get together and everyone just takes a deep breath and go, right, we’ve got to learn.

“We’ve got to tweak these things, we’ve got to finesse this and all be grown up enough to admit where there might be errors, here, there, everywhere, and just get it sorted, basically, because it’s in everyone’s interests, you know,” he said.