Jonny May's X-factor gives England World Cup threat
Sunday 6 September 2015 22:50, UK
Hooker Tom Youngs says the in-form Jonny May will give England the 'X-factor' in their upcoming World Cup campaign.
Gloucester wing May produced a devastating finishing burst to score the opening try in Saturday's 21-13 victory over Ireland in a warm-up game at Twickenham, and had another try ruled out because the scoring pass from Youngs went forward.
May has been in and out of the team over the last year but has bagged five tries in his last nine games and looks a strong candidate to start against Fiji on 18 September.
And Youngs says that, while May has his quirks off the field, he has been one of the top performers in the England camp of late.
"Jonny is a space cadet, he makes me laugh," said Youngs.
"He doesn't read situations very well socially so he can be quite amusing sometimes. We have to tell him: 'Jonny, you can't really say that'.
"He was ringing my brother's doorbell on Friday and Ben opened the door. 'Oh, you're not George Ford', Jonny said!
"He's a good bloke and was outstanding against Ireland. He has trained superbly well, he's been the stand-out guy in training.
"He did some freakish stuff against Ireland, stepping people and going through them. Only Jonny can do that.
"He can produce something out of nothing, there is that X-factor about him."
May crossed for a memorable try against New Zealand last autumn, a score which helped to inspire him on Saturday.
He said: "In the changing room before the game they were playing these highlight reels for each member of the squad.
"Mine had me scoring against the All Blacks, the tries against Samoa, and the one against France last month.
"They are very precious memories for me and I was like, 'I want to go out there and create some more'. I felt proud to do that, it is a great feeling."
The 25-year-old's speed is a real asset and he has been working with sprint coach Marlon Devonish at Gloucester.
"My 10 metres is as good as it's been and I've put on some muscle mass," May added. "It's been great to have this block of training.
"In previous summers I had tours to South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand. You don't get a pre-season, you are rolling one season on to another.
"Marlon has taught me to relax my face. He's got loads of useful tips - sweet spot on the foot, driving straight. All rugby players run quite tight up top."
