Rivals Rees-zammit and May now brothers in arms
After showdown in Cardiff, the flying wingers are working together to plot Gloucester’s path past La Rochelle tonight
Picture the scene: the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, and England are careering to a crushing Six Nations defeat by Wales. The game is all but done, but Callum Sheedy launches a kick downfield in the hope of inflicting one more wound on the old enemy.
In the red corner, Louis Reeszammit, the teenage winger who has given England a torrid afternoon, tears after it. In the white corner, and giving chase, is his Gloucester team-mate Jonny May. Before the game, there had been no end of discussion about who was the quicker, but having just hared up the touchline chasing a kick-off, May knew he was in trouble.
“I thought, ‘Jesus, 77th minute, this is not what I need right now’,” May says, prompting a laugh from Rees-zammit, now sitting alongside his erstwhile rival on this Zoom call with The Daily Telegraph. “I was hoping that [Sheedy] was going to pass him the ball so I could tackle Louis, having just made a run down the edge chasing a kick-off. I was just chasing as hard as I could to get back.” Rees-zammit kicked ahead but was unable to prevent the unruly ball from bouncing all over the place, with England doing just enough to prevent a score.
“Louis missed it twice and I got there just in time to save the day and completely missed it as well,” May says. “We were both on our backs, watching the ball bounce in front of our eyes. You could see just how fast Louis is, even in the 77th minute. It could have been a great try. Shame it wasn’t for Louis, I guess ...”
There is another laugh from Reeszammit. “I wasn’t even thinking about who was chasing after it but I didn’t get the bounce of the ball – it was a mess,” he says.
May, one of the game’s quickest wings, was honest enough to admit recently that on a good day he could only just about keep up with Reeszammit, billing him as quick as anyone he had played with or against. Even with May already gassed from sprinting in one direction before having to turn back and go full pelt the other way, their duel racing after Sheedy’s kick made for fascinating viewing.
That game in February was also the first time both had lined up opposite each other on the field. “You don’t really notice your mate is opposite you, you just treat them like an opponent,” says Rees-zammit. May agrees, pointing out that they had only had one brief chat during the game, at a break in play.
Both players have now won Six Nations titles, with May winning his third last year and Rees-zammit now off the mark with Wales, but there is no doubt who has the bigger spring in his step as thoughts turn to the Champions Cup and tonight’s tie with La Rochelle.
Rees-zammit was travelling back from Gloucester’s game against Exeter when Wales were crowned titlewinners last Friday, courtesy of Scotland’s win over France, and had to watch most of it on an ipad in the back of the car as his father drove him home. “It was very nerve-racking,” he says, in understated fashion.
Gloucester are blessed to have two of the best wingers in Europe. May, 31 this week, is now England’s second-highest try scorer with 33 in 66 Tests, while Rees-zammit, 20, has already scored five tries in his first nine games for Wales, including four in this year’s Six Nations, announcing his talent to the world with that remarkable try against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Both players will certainly be contenders for this summer’s British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, but for Rees-zammit, playing alongside a wing he watched on television growing up has not lost its mystique. “I would have been young – sorry, Jon,” Rees-zammit says when asked for his first memory of May. “I remember being sat in the living room watching him score against the All Blacks, when you ran round Israel Dagg. That was a mental try. I remember like it was yesterday. Now I’m playing and training with him, it’s pretty amazing.”
As for May, part of the lure of returning to Kingsholm after a few years with Leicester Tigers was the prospect of playing in a back three alongside Rees-zammit, who had just finished his breakout season when May returned last summer.
“Louis was playing some good stuff, Ollie Thorley was playing
some good stuff, and I thought that was the sort of back three I wanted to be around and compete with and be a part of. I was aware of what Louis was up to and his talents.”
May recalls that when he was Rees-zammit’s age, learning off Gloucester’s senior wings such as James Simpson-daniel, Tom Voyce and Lesley Vainikolo, the young son of then Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath would kick balls back to the players during pre-season. That same youngster, Cameron Redpath, went on to make his Test debut two months ago against May in Scotland’s famous victory over England at Twickenham.
“It’s just the circle of life,” May shrugs. “You’ll have it one day, Louis. God knows who’s watching you at home and will then be joining you.”
“Oh, I know,” comes the reply. Both May and Rees-zammit might now be international rivals but theirs is a symbiotic relationship at Gloucester, despite their age gap. “When we’re both away on internationals we can’t go through footage, but it’s more just at training, doing extras, working under the high ball. We’ll spur each other on and give feedback when needed,” Rees-zammit says.
May adds: “It’s more being around quality players. It’s like playing a round of golf, if you’re with a couple of hackers, it doesn’t make you play that well.
“As Louis will know with Wales, when you’re around better quality players, it brings out the best in you. What I admire about Louis is his confidence as a young guy and his natural ability.”
Nor are they wedded to their respective positions on the wing. Take May’s try against Exeter last week, where all three of Rees-zammit, full-back Santi Carreras and May were in position to attack as a three down the left touchline.
“We pride ourselves on workrate,
‘As Louis will know with Wales, when you are around better players, it brings out best in you’
we’ll try and get off our wing as much as possible and get the ball,” says Rees-zammit. “Sometimes you’ll see me on the left and Jonny on the right. We’re not going to stand on our wings and wait for the ball, we’ll go and look for it.”
If there is any competition between the two to finish the season with more tries, neither is letting on. “I’d be so happy if Jon scored and I hope he’d be the same for me. As long as we win, that’s all that matters,” says Rees-zammit.
May is more candid. “I think when I was younger, I used to worry about scoring tries a bit more. But the way I see them now, you’re reliant on your team-mates around you to give you that opportunity. Like Louis said, the most important thing is the team winning.”