May believes England pose biggest attacking threat
Jonny May claims England will open their World Cup campaign with more attacking options than any side he has been part of, a firepower which fuels his belief that they can deliver “something very special” in Japan.
England are averaging 4.3 tries per Test this year, including a total 24 in the Six Nations and 15 in their four World Cup warm-up matches.
And the inclusion of rookie backthree players Joe Cokanasiga and Ruaridh Mcconnochie and the return to fitness and form of Manu Tuilagi and Anthony Watson have, according to May, given England more potency and variety in attack than any other side in Japan.
“It is nothing like I have ever been a part of,” said May, who, with 24 tries in 47 caps, is second favourite with bookmakers to finish the tournament as top try-scorer. “The talent we have, and depth as well, for me the belief is genuine that we can beat anybody if we are at our best. I genuinely believe we will peak at this World Cup, from the journey we have been on, the lessons we have learnt and that we have trained incredibly hard.
“Nobody needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat because the talent is so good that people just doing their jobs is going to be enough and that is a great position to be in. We don’t need to force anything, just go out there and play a simple game because something will happen eventually. There are probably potentially eight teams that are coming to win this competition. I genuinely believe, the players we have got, the game plan we have got, and the way we have played in previous performances, it is not false hope. But there is genuine reasons to believe that we can do something very special.”
May says that self-belief is born out of the variety of their attack.