Immanuel Fahey-Waboso quickly rose to prominence. Photo: Taunton Rugby Club
When a player has only appeared in 26 games as a professional but has already had highlights like Immanuel Fahey-Waboso, you can bet they are talented.
About 18 months ago, Fahey-Waboso played for Taunton in National One in a bid to help the Somerset club avoid relegation. It now appears that all English eyes are on a player who appears to be an incredible talent both on and off the field, capable of providing a spark to a disappointing Six Nations campaign.
Eager spectators of Exeter Chiefs games this season are likely to have a favorite moment from the 21-year-old striker, whose combination of quick acceleration and power has stretched defenses over the past few months. Personally, it was a run from just inside Newcastle's half 30 seconds into the game at Kingston Park when Fahey-Waboso eluded a Mathias Moroney tackle and saved Ivan Stevens' challenge with such force that Stevens was left lying on the turf wondering: «What?» was that it?» before shifting into gear and passing Louis Johnson to complete one of the tries of the season.
According to club coach Tony Yapp, when Fahey-Waboso was at Taunton, every appearance for the club was a highlight.
“Honestly, he was such a good guy. He worked incredibly hard. For me as a coach he was brilliant, very coachable. It was natural for him,” Yapp told Telegraph Sport. “He got on with all the boys, talked to the older and younger players. He never came as someone «big», he came as Manny. During his time with us, he was a very popular member of the team.»
A difficult start to the season with injuries and retirements left Taunton struggling to avoid the drop, and the arrival of Fahey-Waboso and other youngsters in George Worboys, Ewan Richards and Jordan Venter provided a timely boost. “We were very lucky to have Manny come to us. All these guys played very well. Having such quality players has energized the team and it has kept us going for the rest of the season.”
Taunton face Bishop's Stortford on Saturday at 3pm in a crucial game. bottom of the league and then attention quickly turned to Twickenham.
“He was only with us this time last year. Twelve months ago he was running around Taunton — what I would give to have him back now! laughs Yapp. “He got the job done and ever since he’s been with us he’s been one of the guys and it’s been great. Many of them knew then that they were lucky to play with Manny because he would continue to achieve bigger and better things, which he clearly has. His professional attitude towards training and playing has certainly rubbed off on many of the players.
“We'll definitely try to watch him if we can. Credit to him and Exeter for how hard they worked to get him up to speed. I think deep down we all knew he had a special talent. We are in seventh heaven that he had such an opportunity.”
Fahey-Waboso has already scored seven tries this campaign, the last of which came at Murrayfield, where Scotland quickly became aware of this new England flank; turn off the protection for a second and he will break through. His second cap, when he made his debut from the bench against Italy, naturally peaked during the first Test but there were a number of promising moments, including a spirited counter to Finn Russell.Fahey-Waboso was not in York with England last week as he returned to the University of Exeter to take a full-time exam as part of his first year of medical studies. Even though he is not training, he is ready for his first start, which underlines his value.
It's been a young career so far, full of intriguing «sliding door» moments. His father, Andrew, is half-Nigerian and half-English (Feyi-Waboso's grandmother is from Gloucester) and a consultant ophthalmologist, so his profession moves the family around the country. Fahey-Waboso's mother, who died when he was young, was half-Nigerian and half-Jamaican.
Born in Cardiff and raised there until he was 15, he joined the Cardiff Blues academy and played for Wales until 18 years. His first professional game was for the Blues, when he played 11 minutes off the bench against an Ospreys team that included his current Exeter teammate and England international Ethan Rootes.
However, the decision was made by Cardiff University. not offering Fahey-Waboso a place to study medicine despite achieving one A and two As while studying at Clifton College in Bristol, which, judging by his recent comments, has effectively closed the door on Fahey-Waboso playing for Wales .
Feyi-Waboso decided to become a doctor
When it was announced that Fahey-Waboso had been included in the England squad rather than Wales, Warren Gatland wrote in his column for this newspaper that Wales assistant Neil Jenkins remarked: «He was born in Cardiff and if he doesn't want to play for Wales , then he can leave.» In fact, Fahey-Waboso playing for Wales had seemed unlikely for some time.
Instead, he went to Aston University to study medicine and signed for Wasps. On the verge of making his Premier League debut against Northampton Saints, Wasps went into administration and Fahey-Waboso was left without a club.
In another twist in the Anglo-Welsh battle for his services, Telegraph Sport understands that Lee Blackett, the former Wasps coach who later joined the Scarlets as an assistant, was keen to try and bring Fahey-Waboso with him to Wales just to so that the region can dither. Instead, Fahey-Waboso signed for Exeter; another move, another new university, another new club. Only this time everything was different.
“I had a lot of stability at Exeter,” Fahey-Waboso recently remarked, hence his decision to take his first year of medical again and start life in Devon, with Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter helping to secure Fahey-Waboso’s place at the university.
Then came his time at Taunton last year, a time that Fahey-Waboso spoke about last week with a big smile. “There are some good guys in the Taunton team. Tony Yapp is a really good coach. Good atmosphere, nice people,” he said. Exeter's brutal overhaul of the squad this summer, following the departures of Sam Simmonds, Jack Nowell, Luke Cowan-Dickie and others, brought in some talented youngsters that led to good results, with Fahey-Waboso stealing the show.
Feyy-Waboso finds a way 👊
Perfect @ExeterChiefs forward line to score his first @EnglandRugby try on Saturday 👏pic.twitter.com/grusd8mA0U
— Premier Rugby (@premrugby) February 28, 2024The insatiable appetite for learning, which Fahey-Waboso described as “my driving force,” has already served him well off the field and has no doubt helped him. “If I wasn’t playing rugby, my ideal situation would have been to just stay at University, keep learning, keep going. But obviously, I think being a doctor is a constant learning process.
“It's really impossible to stop. You study for five years at university, then two preparatory courses, then you specialize… it’s not boring. And rugby too. It is very interesting. He is constantly learning, seeing new players, new systems and the like. So that's pretty cool. My driving force is I feel like it's become a habit now. It's just something I really want to do: be a doctor.”
There may be no tougher test in rugby right now than facing Ireland. England putting Fahey-Waboso on the field is one thing, but they need to create situations for that explosiveness to come through. Because England may have something in this intelligent, exciting 21-year-old.
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