Wales legend Jamie Roberts will break the habit of a lifetime when rooting for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in Saturday’s England v Australia clash at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Roberts spent a glittering 94-cap career viewing England as Wales’ biggest rivals and his country’s most-prized scalp. Yet the presence of Feyi-Waboso this weekend has him feeling different about the old enemy.
“He’s like a powerful Shane Williams, isn’t he?” says Roberts. “Like Shane, but packing more of a punch. This guy sits props down. He’s unbelievable, a pocket rocket. He’s going to be a rock star for England for the next five to 10 years.”
Shared passion
It is not the comparison to Wales‘ record try scorer which explains his support for the Exeter Chiefs wing, however. Rather their shared passion for rugby and medicine.
12 years after hanging up his boots Roberts is practising as a junior doctor at Llandough Hospital in Penarth. Feyi-Waboso, 22, is in the middle of a medical degree at the University of Exeter.
Though he recently paused his studies to give his full attention to rugby, he is committed to following his father, a consultant ophthalmologist, into the profession.
“Manny is not only a wonderful player, he is a great role model for young people,” says Roberts. “He has shown you can pursue a parallel career alongside top-level sport. I’m a massive advocate for that.
“He and Leicester’s Emeka Ilione, who is studying medicine at Nottingham, are shining examples to young people who sometimes think ‘I can’t do both’. It’s a pleasure to see them go after it – great for others to see those lads at the top of the game also working hard away from the field.”
Ilione, whose father is a forensic psychologist, might well have been in this England squad but for a shoulder injury, sustained against Sale last weekend, which has sidelined him for three months.
In his absence Feyi-Waboso will fly the flag for the medics, just as Roberts and such rugby-playing luminaries as JPR Williams, Felipe Contepomi and Brendan Venter did before him.
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He returns to the Test arena in white-hot form, his seven Gallagher Prem tries putting him top of the league scoring charts. After injury and then a red card stalled his progress last season, the young flyer is back with a bang.
“Manny, for me, would have been a British and Irish Lion in the summer, without a doubt, had he not got injured, then banned,” adds Roberts. “He has a proper point of difference.
“That’s sport and he’ll learn from that. If anything, it will motivate him. He has to live with those experiences. You carry disappointments with you as a sportsman.
“You go through tough times and, without you knowing it, that’s what motivates you to reach the heights. Most people will resonate with that, I think.”
Roberts, who is working for TNT Sports during the Quilter Nations Series, retired from rugby as a great of the sport. He is now a family man with three young children, yet for all his success on the field still feels a calling to enter medicine for part two of his career.
“I miss the game but two and a half years after finishing I was like, ‘Right Jamie, you’ve got 30 years of work ahead of you. You can’t dine out on the past forever’.
“I never wanted rugby to define the second half of my life. I was quite clear in my own head about that. I thought, ‘You know what, there’s a reason I studied medicine: I love science, I love problem solving, I love the challenge of it.
“And I love the high pressure of it; which, of course, is what I loved in the game of rugby. So, 11 years after graduating from medical school, I sat an exam to go back in, fortunately passed, and now I’m doing it.”
Roberts has previously expressed his support for junior doctors striking over better pay. He recognises that he comes from a “different place in life”, having earned well as a rugby player rather than coming into the profession fresh from qualifying, saddled with significant debt.
Contributing to society
“I’ve tried to take the financial elements out of my decision making, and thought actually what is going to make me happy,” he adds. “One, I’m contributing to society; two, I’m doing something that I’m confident and happy doing.
“I’m challenging myself and I’m out of my comfort zone. I think there’d always be a hollow and empty part of me if I didn’t at least try and see what working as a doctor is like.
“I’m committed to doing my foundation training. Probably after that period I’ll have a bit of a bit of a board meeting with myself and try and work out if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life?’ I think that’s the smart way to do it.”
Watch every match of the Quilter Nations Series live on TNT Sports and discovery+ from 1-29 November.