England rocked by Feyi-Waboso and Curry blows as injuries hit hard

Steve Borthwick has made six changes to his 36-man Nations Championship squad, with star winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and flanker Tom Curry ruled out for the remainder of the competition.

Feyi-Waboso was wreaking havoc against Australia at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday, as England racked up a record score against the Wallabies. But the luckless Exeter man’s afternoon was cut short when he injured his ankle as a result of an illegal knee-drop tackle from visiting prop Angus Bell.

Feyi-Waboso, who was denied a try after just 80 seconds only for it to be ruled out for a forward pass in the build-up, played on until half-time before being replaced on the wing by Henry Pollock.

And it has now been confirmed that both he and Curry will not feature for England for the rest of the year, with Curry having injured his hip doing non-contact work during a training session at Pennyhill Park before the Australia game.

In addition to those two, Ollie Chessum (shoulder), Seb Atkinson (hip) and George Furbank (groin) have dropped out of the squad preparing to face Japan at Allianz Stadium this weekend, while the return to fitness of Archie McParland has seen a change to the scrum-half stocks, with Harry Randall no longer required.

Head coach Steve Borthwick has tapped into the England A squad for reinforcements, with two of the standout performers involved in the team’s 59-24 win over Argentina XV at The Rec on Friday night, Noah Caluori and Max Ojomoh, called up.

Caluori bagged a brace of tries and once again displayed his aerial brilliance, while Ojomoh’s distribution was top notch, the Bath man also crossing the whitewash at his home ground.

Back-row pairing, Max Hicks and Jack Cunningham, have come in to cover Chessum and Curry, while Tobias Elliott, who also featured for England A, joins his Saracens teammate, Caluori, in the updated squad.

England’s revised 36-man squad, pre-Japan:

Forwards:
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Max Hicks (Newcastle Red Bulls)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)
George Martin (Saracens)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Tom Pearson (Northampton Saints)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)

Backs:
Noah Caluori (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
Tobias Elliott (Saracens)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Will Joseph (Gloucester Rugby)
Joe Marchant (Sale Sharks)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)

Rehabilitation: Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), George Furbank (Harlequins)