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England Head coach Steve Borthwick has played down the severity of England center Seb Atkinson’s injury but says wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s injury requires further investigation after his side’s 45-22 win Australia at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
The Exeter Chiefs the star, 23, looked to have made the perfect start to the game, bursting through a considerable gap in the Wallabies defense in the opening two minutes and scoring under the posts, only for his attempt to be denied for a forward pass earlier in the game. He continued to wreak havoc on the Wallabies defence, carrying himself in all areas of the field, beating eight forwards and 130 meters before half-time.
However, he received treatment on his right ankle late in the first half, and despite continuing, he did not return for the second half. Les Kiss would have been delighted the 94kg powerhouse didn’t return after the break as the visitors struggled to carry him, and while Henry Pollock – playing on the wing – scored two tries, Feyi-Waboso proved to be England’s most valuable attacking weapon.
The 17-cap star was seen in his boots after the match and Borthwick left England fans sweating ahead of the games with Japan and All black people.
“Manny needs a little more investigation,” the head coach said. “We don’t really know.”
Atkinson, meanwhile, was substituted on the hour mark after being treated on the pitch for a hip injury, but Borthwick is less worried about his centre.
“Seb looks hip, hopefully nothing,” he said. “We don’t think it’s anything long-term. He’s very sore, bruised, but we’re talking about days to recover. He might not be available next weekend, but it’s too early to say.”
Heading into the match, there was talk of Pollock playing on the wing for England as cover, but few expected the 21-year-old to play 40 minutes, 40 minutes with two tries at that. After the match, Borthwick said: “I say this in all the right ways now we have to put up with Henry Pollock saying playing on the wing is easy. And now we have to put up with Henry Pollock saying he can play anywhere on the pitch. We suggested a forward line, he said no, he didn’t want to do it.
“He was excellent and we’re going to hear a lot about it now. That’s the downside.
“I think we’ve shared a lot of conversations about positional versatility, flexibility. Ben Earl in the centers, he’s done that a couple of times. When you’re making a decision about a 6-2 split on the bench, or a 5-3 on the bench, and you look at your assistant coaches and say, could he really prove that he played that today.”
