England hit 'really important' period for 'our Jason Robinson' says Sinfield

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry will be carefully managed between now and the World Cup as England look to give two key personnel the best possible chance of being available for the tournament.

Feyi-Waboso will miss the rest of the autumn because of an ankle injury sustained in Sunday’s 44-22 mauling of Australia, robbing England of their most dangerous attacking threat.

And British and Irish Lions flanker Curry will sit out all four Nations Championship matches at Allianz Stadium this month after aggravating a long-standing hip condition in training last week.

Both players will travel to next year’s World Cup in Australia if fit but have concerning injury records that paint an uncertain picture over their involvement.

Under the current agreement between England and the Prem clubs, head coach Steve Borthwick now has greater control over the 25 members of his elite player squad, including final say on workload and medical matters.

“The best high-performance environments have the right amount of care and the right amount of challenge,” assistant coach Sir Kevin Sinfield said.

“How Tom’s managed, looked after and supported over this next period of time will be really important for him.

“He’s still a young man and we’re a better squad when he’s around. He’s a world-class player.

“The agreement that’s in place hopefully will ensure brilliant collaboration between club and country so that Tom plays for a long, long time, and he can be at his very best when he’s in and out of camp.

“Manny’s had a run of injuries now and hopefully that can be the last one for some time. I think it’s because of the nature of how he’s put together – he’s that powerful.

“What you tend to find is players either get a load of injuries at the start of their careers or get them towards the back end.

“Hopefully we can get him fully fit for a long period of time and Exeter get to see the best of him too. Again the collaboration is going to be really important for us.”

Feyi-Waboso’s unique ability to beat defenders was on full display at Twickenham and Sinfield described his performance as “world class”, adding “he’s our Jason Robinson” in reference to the cross-code great.

His absence creates a vacancy on the wing for Saturday’s Test against Japan and whoever is selected will be instructed to play to their own strengths.

“There aren’t many Mannys kicking around so to go like for like is difficult,” Sinfield said.

“We can’t ask somebody to come in and play like Manny, but we can ask them to come in and bring the best of themselves.”

Gloucester’s in-form outside back Will Joseph is one of the players looking to fill his boots and Sinfield insists he is ready to take his chance if selected.

“What a player he is,” Sinfield said. “He beats people. He’s got great balance. He’s a good defender with unbelievable power and speed off the mark.

“He’s a special player. Some of the bits he’s done in training have been ‘wow’ moments. He can play.”