May injury fears for England as Leicester earn a vital win

ENGLAND are sweating over Jonny May’s fitness after the Leicester winger suffered a shoulder injury in an ugly victory over Northampton.

May left the field with his right arm in a sling and, while it is not broken, he faces further tests to determine his availability for the autumn internationals.

England coach Eddie Jones will be desperate for good news on the 28-year-old, who has scored five tries in five Tests and has been the league’s standout winger.

‘He got a bang directly on the point of his shoulder, which is his AC joint,’ said Tigers coach Geordan Murphy. ‘Sometimes you can just strap him up and play or sometimes they take a few weeks. It is not too severe but it was sore.’

In a showpiece match to raise funds for the injury-enforced retirement of Rob Horne, May was among a cast of players forced off early.

Lock Courtney Lawes pulled out before kick-off, while David Denton and Ahsee Tuala were both hauled off before half-time.

May grimaced as he walked off after eight minutes, but his teammates rallied after Jamie Gibson’s score gave Northampton the lead.

Leicester have now gone 32 games without keeping a try clean sheet and, on this evidence, neither of these sides will be back at Twickenham for this year’s Premiership final.

Despite struggling at the lineout, the Tigers pack won the physical battle and their backs capitalised through the speed of Jonah Holmes, Adam Thompstone and Jordan Olowofela.

They had just 26 per cent of the first-half territory but thrived in broken play to score through Ben Youngs and Olowofela, with his first ever Premiership try.

Northampton struck back through David Ribbans but the second half descended into one of the ugliest 40 minutes of rugby this season. The match was used as a test run for Twickenham’s new £80million hospitality suites

and there was little point in the 3,000 or so guests coming back out.

Saints hooker Mikey Haywood scored the only try of the half from a lineout, with handling errors and Dan Biggar’s wayward kicking leaving the Saints-heavy crowd with little to cheer.

‘It’s disappointing that we couldn’t get the victory that Rob deserved,’ said Saints coach Chris Boyd. ‘The important thing for him is that we can help him with his journey going forward.’