HENDO A ROME OPTION
Now that Jonny’s gone from misfiring winger to deadly finisher Wales have been warned: Expect...
IAIN HENDERSON is free to play for Ireland in Rome after avoiding a suspension but Garry Ringrose will miss out again.
Henderson’s 15th minute tackle on Sam Cross in Ulster’s win at Ospreys on Friday was deemed a yellow rather than a red card offence after he appeared via video link at a disciplinary hearing in Edinburgh yesterday.
With Tadhg Beirne also included in a 34-man panel that trained at Carton House yesterday, Joe
Schmidt’s second row options have been considerably boosted for Sunday’s Six Nations clash with Italy.
Ringrose, who missed the win over Scotland with a hamstring injury, has stayed with Leinster this week.
But centre colleague Robbie Henshaw, fresh from signing a new three-year IRFU contract to remain with the province, is back in the selection frame.
With Chris Farrell passed fit to train yesterday, Schmidt could continue with his experiment of blooding Henshaw at full-back after Rob Kearney returned to form in the position at Murrayfield.
Prop Jack Mcgrath comes back into the squad but Andrew Porter drops out.
JONNY MAY heads to Wales as the sharpest shooter in rugby – admitting his England career could have been over before he first hit the target. The Leicester wing has 12 tries in his last 12 Tests and leads the Six Nations try charts with four in England’s wins over Ireland and France. No international comes close to that strike-rate and team-mate Ben Youngs declared: “He’s certainly the in-form winger in the world – maybe the best at the moment.”
All of which is a far cry from his first 18 months in the England side when May started seven Tests and fired only blanks.
“I wasn’t doubting myself,” he said. “But, of course, I knew in the back of my head I was running out of chances. “I knew there was pressure on me and that while I could do it at Gloucester and score tries I hadn’t quite done it here.” May went from the 2014 Six Nations to a tour of New Zealand where another chance came and went before a return to Twickenham and, against the same opposition, got the monkey off his back.
“There were lots of wingers competing at the start of that season and I thought maybe I wouldn’t start,” he admitted.
“But I did and it was in the back of my head that I hadn’t scored.
“It wasn’t quite make or break, but when I did score it was a big feeling of relief.”
It was not any old try, with
May counter-attacking in the opening moments, gunning it down the left on an arcing run and skinning full-back Israel
Dagg on the outside.
And although England still ended up losing to the world champions, the try took off the safety catch from the Red
Rose’s most lethal weapon.
“I’ve scored loads of tries that are special to me but that was particularly special because it was my first,” he said.
“I am a much different player now to what I was. I am proud of where I am and where I’ve come from, when you think about my first 10 games.
“I have scored a lot in my last 12 Tests, more than in my first 30. Is that luck or coincidence? Maybe it is. But I know my game’s better and tries come with that.”