Immanuel Feyi-Wabaso makes shock return to the England squad

England head coach Steve Borthwick has confirmed that Manny Feyi-Waboso could make an unexpected return to the squad, with a late push for involvement in the 2025 Guinness Men's Six Nations after initially being ruled out of the competition.

The Exeter Chiefs wing was set to undergo shoulder surgery that would side-line him for the entirety of the Six Nations, but it has since been confirmed that Feyi-Waboso actually turned down the proposed operation in a late bid for match fitness. Borthwick backed Feyi-Waboso's decision, and expressed how he would be delighted to have the nine-capped wing back amongst the squad.

"Yes. I think there is a possibility he'll be back before the end of the Six Nations. And I'd love him to be back before the end of this Six Nations. We talk about players with pace, power, skill... timescales are a little bit unclear, it depends how things progress, but he's going well so far."

"Ultimately, it's a player's decision, it's always the player's decision. And we are supportive of the player's decision. I think Manny is in charge of that process."

Should Feyi-Waboso make a triumphant return to the Six Nations training squad, then he would bolster a position that is thinning out in the England camp. Cadan Murley sustained an injury upon his England debut last weekend in Dublin, that has sidelined him for at least the next two weeks. Northampton wing Ollie Sleightholme has returned to full match fitness, and has been named by Borthwick to take up the lead upon the left wing against France.

"I think clearly there was Cadan’s injury and Ollie Sleightholme was just returning from injury, so I didn’t think he was right for last weekend. 'Sleights' returns to the team having played all of the autumn series and in the summer. Both Marcus and Fin have been around the squad for so long now, so I think you see a lot of consistency in my selection."

Sleightholme rounds off a new-look England back-three, that sees his Northampton Saints teammate Tommy Freeman run out on the wing, alongside Marcus Smith at fullback. Borthwick is set to issue Smith with only his fifth start in the 15 jersey, in what is a return to the 2023 Rugby World Cup playbook for the England head coach.

Borthwick discussed how Smith played brilliantly in France with George Ford pulling the strings, and he hopes to see more of the same albeit with a new man in the 10 shirt. Borthwick has named Northampton man Fin Smith to start at fly half for England, with the 22-year-old earning plenty of adulation ahead of his maiden Test start.

"I don't often very much talk about private conversations, but I think he is a game-changer. He's a player who can do things very few of the players in the world can do. And I want him to bring all those natural instincts onto the field in an England shirt. Now, whether he starts with number 10 or number 15 on his back, nothing changes.

"I want those natural instincts on the pitch. He sees space that other players don't. He has an ability to find gaps in defences that most people don't know are there. And that's exactly what I want him to bring this weekend."

"I was chatting with Marcus last night and he was tremendously excited about the game on Saturday. Those are his words. He was excited about the feeling of playing with Fin Smith. We trained together on Tuesday and then reviewed that training session and reviewed what they did together.

"He was feeling really exhilarated about the opportunities of those two ball players and the space they could find and the space they were trying to look for. Then the tactical battle that we face with France. France are a brilliantly smart tactical team, so one of the chances both Fin and Marcus have is ensuring that we get on top of that tactical battle."

The selection of Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme in the back-three is a definite marker for England's attacking intentions. However, the fact that all three men have an abundance of pace to burn was also a factor from a defensive standpoint, as the trio get set to take on some of the world's top speedsters in Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Dupont.

"They are very dangerous when they move the ball to the edges. I think probably they are the best side in the world at being able to attack tight and being able to create momentum tight. Their offloading game, going through tackles and then offloading after the tackle, or be it in the tackle and offloading back and then playing off it, is very good. Which then has the ability to bring the defenders in tight.

"Then I think they are very strong at getting the ball to width, very fast. The fastest way they do that is Antoine Dupont pulling out those cross-kicks off both feet. So that poses us a real challenge to be able to deal with that physical challenge in the centre of the field and being able to get width, which means you need pace, there's no doubt.

"Watching, Bielle-Biarrey, and the pace of Ramos, these guys have got pace. They get any space, they will take it. As you've recognised, we have got pace in our team as well. I want the ball in those players' hands, in space."

Aside from the new-look England back-line, there has also been a noteable re-jigging of the forward pack with Tom Willis set to start at number eight. After making a replacement appearance in the way of Ben Earl in the opening round in Dublin, Willis will now start alongside his Saracens teammate as Earl shifts to the flank. Addressing the tactic that has brought Mark McCall's side a great deal of defensive accumen, Borthwick said;

"There’s a couple of factors within it, certainly one of them is the time they’ve played together at Saracens over the past 18 months or so, and the combination they find in the 7 and 8 shirt. I know you’d then say ‘well Ben Curry and Tom Curry play an awful lot together, and played together last week’.

"I thought they played really well, and my conversation with them when I reviewed with Ben Curry was ‘you did everything I asked of you, I thought you played really well.’ What I felt was in the second half last Saturday we needed more running on the pitch.

"We had a number of players I brought off the bench with great skillsets. My feeling in is with Ben Curry on the bench for this game, to come on at some point within the game to add that intensity of workrate he brings, the movement he brings, the jackal pressure he brings as well as the link play, I think that’s something that would add to our team. As you watch that second half, that’s something that will enhance us this week.

"There’s changes within the 23 but minimal changes from outside the 23, which I think is important to recognise. These players, I want them to play together a lot. I’m not saying there aren’t opportunities for others, but I want the players to get used to playing with each other much more often."

Honing in on Earl, and Borthwick revealed how the bruiser may not stick to the back row for the entirety of the France Test. Having once again named a forwards heavy bench with the 6-2 split, Earl could well move across to the backs, should the Saracen need to fill in for any untimely injuries.

"We train Ben Earl with the backs a lot and go through a lot of those different combinations. With Ben Earl’s skill-set, he can slot in there really well. I’m aware of that physical load. But also, playing against a team like France, it’s different to playing against Ireland.

"Against Ireland, we expected to make lots of tackles. You saw the running those guys did in the forwards. In large parts of the game, I thought it was first class. France play fast. There are big collisions and they try to offload. With the size of the French pack, it’s important that we have that freshness in the forwards."

Sticking with Saracens, and their is a notable North Londoner back in squad for the second round of the Six Nations. After missing the opening round of the tournament with a hamstring injury, hooker Jamie George has been named on the bench for when England host France at the Allianz Stadium. This has the knock-on effect that pushes Theo Dan out of the match day 23, with Luke Cowan-Dickie set to start ahead of the two StoneX stalwarts.

"That experience of both him (George) and Elliot Daly on the bench is important. You look at last weekend, and Jamie wasn’t available last weekend, and Ireland brought five British & Irish Lions onto the pitch - I don’t have five British & Irish Lions to bring on off the bench.

"That experience is one of the factors with Elliot and Jamie. Jamie has been very good. He’s worked very hard. He had that little hamstring tweak and has worked very hard to get back. It’s important to recognise that it’s tough on Theo Dan. I thought he played really well when he came off the bench last week. He played very well for England over the last period of time. There’s a lot of competition in that hooker’s berth."