MAY’S MARVEL
Jonny’s just so good as Tigers rock Exeter
TIGERS boss Matt O’Connor reckons Leicester signed a true pro when they landed Jonny May in the summer.
May’s move from Gloucester was a bolt from the blue but the 27-year-old has been in red-hot form.
His 67th-minute effort here after Ben Youngs’ masterly long pass made it five touchdowns in five games for the England man and put the tin lid on the champions’ defeat.
May missed out on the Lions tour to New Zealand and had to make do with a trip to Argentina with England.
But if he carries on like this he will be the first name on Eddie Jones’ sheet when the Pumas arrive at Twickenham on November 11.
O’Connor said: “He is a great pro. He works incredibly hard on his game and is dedicated to being better every day. For the academy lads to see that is a huge boost.
“He leaves no stone unturned in his preparation and for that finish he had a lot of work to do to get over the paint for us – and he did it with ease.” May’s finish made it three wins on the spin for the Tigers, who have bounced back since losing their first two games.
But they were under pressure when they had to make a staggering 50 tackles in the first 15 minutes.
Exeter could have won the game by then but dropped too many passes and were not accurate enough in attack, leaving boss Rob Baxter frustrated with a losing bonus point.
Baxter said: “We have got to park today pretty quickly.
“A lot of the players think there was a bit more out there for us.
“We had good pressure in the second half and got a pretty hard-fought bonus point – 20-13 at Welford Road – most teams in most years would take that but we have come up a bit short.” The Chiefs were all over Tigers until flanker Julian Salvi was binned for a no-arms clearout on 23 minutes and the hosts edged back into it.
Wing Nick Malouf scored the game’s first try after a brilliant pass from Matt Toomua and George Ford kept things ticking over with a drop goal just before the break.
Chiefs got a penalty try when Leicester full-back Telusa Veainu deliberately knocked and was carded as the hosts were pressing for the win. Exeter turned down three kickable penalties in the hope of a game-winning try but Leicester held them out.
Eventually fly-half Gareth Steenson saw the game was up and went for the three-pointer, hitting the post with one, to make sure Chiefs got something.