Emmanuel Faye-Waboso has been ruled out of England’s crucial clash with Scotland and is in danger of missing the entire Six Nations.
Faye Waboso suffered a hamstring injury in training last week, which saw him withdraw from the starting line-up in Saturday’s 48-7 win over Wales.
Manager Steve Borthwick has plenty of players on the flanks, with Henry Arundel scoring a hat-trick in the first round at the Allianz Arena and Tom Roebuck making a successful return from a broken toe. Tommy Freeman and Elliott Daly are also options.
But England will still be hoping to field their main attacking weapon in an attempt to secure a first win since 2020 at Murrayfield and, with the rest of the tournament in mind, will be hoping for a positive update when Fay Waboso sees a specialist.
“It looks like Manny is going to be out for a couple weeks. I don’t know how many weeks, but it’s a number and not a week, which is disappointing,” Borthwick said.
“But unfortunately that’s the nature of elite sport – there are injuries and then you have to adapt.”
Faye Waboso was left out of England’s latest 36-man squad announced on Sunday and will continue his rehabilitation at Exeter.
The setback was partly offset by the return of Finn Smith and Ollie Lawrence from calf and knee injuries, although keeping them in the starting fifteen meant giving up George Ford and reshaping the backline.
Borthwick revealed Ellis Genge’s half-time withdrawal was a precautionary measure involving an unspecified issue and he will be available against Scotland.
However, George Furbank will not be involved as he continues to deal with a calf problem.
England have lost three of their last four visits to Murrayfield, with the Calcutta Cup proving to be a tortuous affair in recent years, but they head to the Scottish capital on Saturday with a 12-match winning streak in hand.
Borthwick insists there’s plenty of room for improvement
England’s challenge ahead of the Six Nations is clear: a fifth-round tie with France in Paris, with a Grand Slam still hanging in the balance.
Looking ahead, however, their ambitions are certain to be dashed – not least with a more difficult challenge than Wales looming, starting with Saturday’s trip to Murrayfield.
England may go into the Calcutta Cup as defending champions and Scotland may be reeling from their 18-15 first-round loss to Italy, but England have not won in Edinburgh since 2020.
The win came two years before Borthwick took charge and the England manager outlined a number of areas for improvement before heading to Murrayfield.
“Our defense was outstanding,” he said. “We knew Wales had a lot of dangerous players out wide and we did a good job of stopping them.
“We kicked the ball well and did a good job from set-pieces, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. What’s really pleasing is that we created a lot of chances and we can do a better job of converting those chances.”
“Especially in the second half, we didn’t take our chances the way I would have liked. We still have a lot of work to do.”
England move on
In a game that has England all talked about as title contenders on and off the pitch, their devastating first half confirmed their resurgence under Borthwick. Steve Tandy’s side struggled but England still showed patience and ruthlessness as they built an unassailable lead.
Their attempts on the field were ruled out after the break and their bench failed to provide any impact, with outside center Freeman still a work in progress, but after such a strong start to the game they will head to Murrayfield with their heads held high on Saturday.
England 2026 Six Nations fixtures
All time UK and Ireland
- England 48-7 Wales (Saturday, February 7) – Allianz Arena, Twickenham
- vs Scotland (Saturday 14 February) – Murrayfield (4.40pm)
- vs. Ireland (Saturday, February 21) – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (2.10pm)
- vs. Italy (Saturday, March 7) – Stadio Olimpico, Rome (4.40pm)
- vs. France (Saturday, March 14) – Stade de France, Paris (8:10 p.m.)







