STOP PAYING THE PENALTY
May’s desperate to end England woe
JONNY MAY believes England are their own worst enemies and has ordered them to cut out their ill-discipline.
England have lost four Tests in a row and their serial penalty offending cost Eddie Jones’ men again in the 42-39 defeat to South Africa on Saturday.
The Red Rose conceded 12 penalties to the Springboks’ five at Ellis Park.
And England, who have racked up a whopping 70 penalties in six games this year, even held a meeting earlier this week in a bid to solve their woes.
Pull
May said: “We have spoken about discipline before – it isn’t like it’s been brushed over.
“In the Six Nations it killed us and it was as bad as ever at the weekend. In the meeting we had on Monday night the theme literally was discipline.
“Owen Farrell leads it and he’s got a leadership group around him. But everyone in the team has a role to be a responder, a listener, to give information, to help pull in the same direction.
“Hopefully we have realised – we should have realised by now – the impact one penalty has on the momentum of a game, let alone back-to-back penalties. from PETE SAMSON in Durban
It’s such a frustrating one because the guys in our team don’t want to be giving away penalties.”
England have a chance to make amends in Saturday’s second Test in Bloemfontein but are set to once again be without second-row Joe Launchbury.
Launchbury (calf) is losing his fitness battle after missing training once again yesterday although back-up hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie could feature following a hamstring strain.
Meanwhile, Springboks star Schalk Brits is weighing up combining the Test arena with university after his recall.
Ex-Saracens hooker Brits, who has come out of retirement, has a confirmed place at Cambridge University in September with the possibility of an option at Oxford too.
But with South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus keen for him to play on until next year’s World Cup, Brits could find himself leading a rugby double life.
Brits, 37, said: “From my point of view, I still want to do either the Cambridge or Oxford experience, and that would start in September. It would be quite funny if I was to play for the Springboks and the Varsity at the same time.”