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Ollie Lawrence and Fin Smith will bolster Steve Borthwick’s backline options for the Calcutta Cup
Harry Latham-Coyle Rugby Correspondent Sunday 08 February 2026 16:00 GMT- Bookmark
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open image in galleryImmanuel Feyi-Waboso will miss the Calcutta Cup clash (Getty Images)
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England have been given mixed injury news ahead of the Calcutta Cup with wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso a major doubt for the rest of the Six Nations but Ollie Lawrence and Fin Smith back in contention to feature against Scotland in Edinburgh.
Feyi-Waboso was withdrawn from the starting side to face Wales in England’s opening game having suffered a hamstring injury in training, and will miss a “number of weeks”, according to head coach Steve Borthwick, with further inspection from specialists required to fully determine the severity.
It is a blow for the Exeter wing having missed the entirety of last year’s Six Nations campaign due to a shoulder issue. Tom Roebuck, who had been a fitness doubt himself, was called in to start on the right wing against Wales.
Borthwick’s backline options will be boosted, though, at Murrayfield with both Ollie Lawrence and Fin Smith in contention having trained fully at the back-end of Wales week. The pair had come into camp with knee and calf niggles respectively, but could press for involvement in round two as England look to build on a big opening win.
open image in gallery(Getty Images)The continuing absence of Feyi-Waboso leaves Borthwick with decisions to make in his backline. Henry Arundell impressed with a hat-trick against Wales but Elliot Daly’s big left boot and experience could come into contention for the clash with Scotland. The return of Lawrence could free up Tommy Freeman to be moved out to the wing from outside centre.
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Borthwick suggested, though, that he had been pleased by the Northampton man, who scored for the seventh consecutive Six Nations game and provided real punch in midfield before moving wider with Ben Earl installed in the centres late on.
“I like players to have the ability to have positional flexibility – it is really important,” Borthwick explained. “You saw Ben Earl move to the centres again, he did a good job there, which is particularly effective late in games particularly when you are up on the scoreboard and have got the opposition trying to use the ball in hand more to try and score.
open image in galleryTommy Freeman scored late on for England (Getty Images)“I think part of it is the togetherness of the team, the connections of the team. This was the first game together for a good period of time. We started Tommy 13 in the first game of the autumn, and then he wasn't able to play too much more at 13. Clearly, it takes time to build those connections. When the game is played at the pace it is, with the physicality it is, you've got split, split moments to make a decision and execute. And part of that comes at club level where you're training day in, day out for weeks, months, years together. You build that. At Test level, we've got to do it together very quickly.”
Ellis Genge was withdrawn at half time in a precautionary move having picked up a slight injury ahead of the game, and the loosehead should be fit to start again against Scotland. Full-back George Furbank has suffered a set-back, though, and is out of contention alongside young prop Vilikesa Sela.
Edinburgh has not been a happy place for England of late, with just one win in their last four visits to Murrayfield.
Borthwick is confident, though, that his team are in a much better place after extending their winning run to 12 matches.
open image in gallerySteve Borthwick hopes for a better day at Murrayfield (REUTERS)“The team's in a different place now,” he said. “We know Scotland are a top quality side. They're steered so well by Finn Russell at 10, who's regarded by many as being the best fly-half in the world. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of emotion from them in the stadium next weekend.
“I think the understanding of how we want to play is improving. We want to play fast. I think it suits the nature of the team that we have. I thought in the ffirst half [against Wales] we really tried to do that. I thought at the start of second half we did. I think there was a period in that second half where I thought we went a little bit slow, and the intensity with which we played dropped a little bit.
“And I think that was one of the reasons why, even though we had so many chances - we created loads, which is brilliant - we didn't convert them. We didn't take them. That's certainly something we're going to work upon taking away from this. We want to keep the pace of the game higher than that.”
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