Wales legend Jamie Roberts will break the habit of a lifetime when rooting for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in Saturday\u2019s England v Australia clash at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.<\/p>\n
Roberts spent a glittering 94-cap career viewing England as Wales\u2019 biggest rivals and his country\u2019s most-prized scalp. Yet the presence of Feyi-Waboso this weekend has him feeling different about the old enemy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like a powerful Shane Williams, isn\u2019t he?\u201d says Roberts<\/a>. \u201cLike Shane, but packing more of a punch. This guy sits props down. He\u2019s unbelievable, a pocket rocket. He\u2019s going to be a rock star for England<\/a> for the next five to 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Shared passion<\/p>\n It is not the comparison to Wales<\/a>\u2018 record try scorer which explains his support for the Exeter Chiefs wing, however. Rather their shared passion for rugby and medicine.<\/p>\n 12 years after hanging up his boots Roberts is practising as a junior doctor at Llandough Hospital in Penarth. Feyi-Waboso<\/a>, 22, is in the middle of a medical degree at the University of Exeter.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cManny is not only a wonderful player, he is a great role model for young people,\u201d says Roberts. \u201cHe has shown you can pursue a parallel career alongside top-level sport. I\u2019m a massive advocate for that.<\/p>\n \u201cHe and Leicester\u2019s Emeka Ilione, who is studying medicine at Nottingham, are shining examples to young people who sometimes think \u2018I can\u2019t do both\u2019. It\u2019s a pleasure to see them go after it \u2013 great for others to see those lads at the top of the game also working hard away from the field.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n England v Australia prediction: Steve Borthwick\u2019s Bomb Squad to extinguish Wallabies threat<\/a><\/p>\n Autumn Nations Series: Team news, kick-off times, venues and how to watch week one<\/a><\/p>\n He returns to the Test<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n \u201cManny, for me, would have been a British and Irish Lion in the summer, without a doubt, had he not got injured, then banned,\u201d adds Roberts. \u201cHe has a proper point of difference.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s sport and he\u2019ll learn from that. If anything, it will motivate him. He has to live with those experiences. You carry disappointments with you as a sportsman.<\/p>\n \u201cYou go through tough times and, without you knowing it, that\u2019s what motivates you to reach the heights. Most people will resonate with that, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI miss the game but two and a half years after finishing I was like, \u2018Right Jamie, you\u2019ve got 30 years of work ahead of you. You can\u2019t dine out on the past forever\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI never wanted rugby to define the second half of my life. I was quite clear in my own head about that. I thought, \u2018You know what, there\u2019s a reason I studied medicine: I love science, I love problem solving, I love the challenge of it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd 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\u2019m doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Roberts has previously expressed his support for junior doctors striking over better pay. He recognises that he comes from a \u201cdifferent place in life\u201d, having earned well as a rugby player rather than coming into the profession fresh from qualifying, saddled with significant debt.<\/p>\n Contributing to society<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve tried to take the financial elements out of my decision making, and thought actually what is going to make me happy,\u201d he adds. \u201cOne, I\u2019m contributing to society; two, I\u2019m doing something that I\u2019m confident and happy doing.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m challenging myself and I\u2019m out of my comfort zone. I think there\u2019d always be a hollow and empty part of me if I didn\u2019t at least try and see what working as a doctor is like.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m committed to doing my foundation training. Probably after that period I\u2019ll 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?\u2019 I think that\u2019s the smart way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch every match of the Quilter Nations Series live on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a> from 1-29 November.<\/p>\n