Jackson's five to watch: Feyi-Waboso ready to scorch Champions Cup
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso of Exeter gestures during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match against Bath at The Recreation Ground on November 30. Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Few novice wings have left as many scorch marks on the world stage during a debut season but then fewer still have a turbo-charger like ‘Manny’s’. Far more than a mere speed merchant, nobody will be surprised if, at 21, England’s dynamic Welshman becomes one of the youngest Test Lions since the teenaged Tony O’Reilly almost 70 years ago.
In attempting to rouse the 2018 champions from their losing domestic run, he will also be flying the flag for Wales in a Champions’ Cup stripped for the first time of their four poverty-stricken regions. Born in Cardiff to Nigerian parents, he will take some stopping but it’s a crying shame from a Welsh perspective that they managed to lose him as well as their last 12 matches.
The English émigré has been tearing it up in the Top 14 ever since Toulouse offered him a golden refuge after Wasps went bust two years ago. Nobody will be watching their match-winner more intently in the coming months than Lions head coach Andy Farrell.
In next to no time Willis convinced the biggest club in Europe that a back-row forward par excellence had landed in their midst. As if to prove that every silver lining has a cloud, Willis’ French connection meant an automatic disconnect from England selection as decreed by the RFU’s insistence on picking home-based players only. That didn’t stop Toulouse securing his services for another four years.
Persuading the world’s mightiest club to drop Europe’s most reliable goalkicker for the biggest match of the season takes some doing. That Toulouse chose Kinghorn over Thomas Ramos for the final in London last May spoke volumes for the Scot’s soaring status.
Since leaving Edinburgh to measure himself against the brightest and best, Kinghorn has succeeded to such an extent that Toulouse find room to include him from the start for the matches that matter most. The looming Lions tour is another reason why he will be watched more closely than ever. Hugo Keenan, for so long in a full back class all by himself, knows he has a serious challenger.
When Ronan O’Gara’s creation ruled Europe like a Colossus, nobody symbolised their power quite like Skelton and not simply because, at nearer seven feet than six and 21-stone plus, there is an awful lot of him. The mountainous Wallaby is impossible not to watch.
Ever since Leinster got a little of their own back by knocking their nemesis out in the quarter-finals last season, O’Gara has been wrestling with the challenge of showing the world that true champions always bounce back. Starting at Bath tonight, Skelton’s presence will be at the heart of that, some statement given that the pack includes other gigantic figures like Uini Atonio, Gregory Alldritt and Paul Boudehent,
The autumn Tests threw up an intriguing tale of how a pair of No. 10’s reacted to not being picked. While Mathieu Jalibert threw his toys out of the pram and pedalled it back to Bordeaux instead of staying to see his confreres beat the All Blacks, Crowley, a team player from tip to toe, accepted his demotion to the bench in the national interest.
Where he stands, or sits, come the Six Nations will be critically influenced by how he goes in the Champions’ Cup starting on home ground against Stade Francais tomorrow. Crowley has no doubts about his mental resilience which is perhaps just as well given the mists of uncertainty swirling around Munster since Graham Rowntree’s premature exit.
