EXETER Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, says he is awaiting the results of a scan on England international Immanuel Feyi-Waboso to determine the extent of his shoulder injury.
The 22-year-old winger was forced off during Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership 28-10 loss at Sale Sharks, a result which means the Chiefs remain at the foot of the table heading into Christmas.
Baxter has already confirmed that Feyi-Waboso will miss this Sunday’s sold-out clash with Gloucester, but is unsure how many more games he will be forced to sit out.
The loss of Feyi-Waboso will be felt for the Chiefs, who are still yet to register a win in either the Premiership or Investec Champions Cup this season.
“We’re hope that there’s not too much damage,” said Baxter. “We’ve just to go assume that the likelihood is he’s got some shoulder damage from a dislocation and we’ll see how bad it is.”
Without Feyi-Waboso, it’s likely Baxter will recall Josh Hodge to his starting line-up with Tom Wyatt switching from full-back to fill the void on the wing.
Otherwise, Baxter was able to report a clean bill of health for his squad, who will be looking to round off 2024 with a big performance against the Cherry & Whites, who come into the game on the back of a notable home win against Harlequins.
For Baxter, the search for that elusive first league win of the season remains, although he insists he is seeing improvements from his squad, even in defeat.
“You can’t fault the lads for the effort that’s going in on the field, they’re laying it all on the line,” he said. “It sounds quite a lot 28-10, but when you look where two of the scores came from where it went penalty, penalty, penalty and they score and we’re given a yellow card - and we do that twice.
“If you remove those two you’re sitting there at 14-10 and going ‘this is a pretty tight, pressure game and we’re right in it’. What we’ve got to do somehow is break the cycle.”