Heat on O’Connor to halt Tigers’ slide
Jonny May tells Neale Harvey how Tigers will be a different beast
“Joining Tigers helped take my game on and I want to keep going in that direction”
Arch try poacher Jonny May insists his best is yet to come as he aims to fire “underachieving” Leicester back to the summit of English rugby.
Despite enjoying a fine personal 2017/18 campaign in which he notched 20 tries in 30 appearances for Tigers and England, a collective Red Rose slump in form coincided with Leicester finishing outside the top four for the first time since 2004.
Their failure to make the play-offs means head coach Matt O’Connor is under huge pressure heading into Saturday’s crucial Premiership opener at Exeter – a fact May is acutely aware of as he prepares for his second season at Welford Road.
May told The Rugby Paper: “Tigers are a very successful club historically and the expectation here is greater than anything I’ve ever experienced. Missing out on the top four was a disaster and Matty being under pressure shows how brutal it is.
“But it’s not just Matty who’s under pressure, the whole club’s under pressure and the players are under pressure. We underachieved last year across the board – as individuals, as individual units – and it’s no surprise the fans aren’t happy.
“They expect us to win and we weren’t good enough. But we’ve got the perfect opportunity to show what we can do now and, personally, I’ve learned how tough it can be playing here and I’m definitely more aware of what’s coming our way.”
May, who arrived from Gloucester a year ago, believes crucial additions to Leicester’s pack will enable their potent backline to shine.
He added: “We’ve definitely added some big forwards who will help us massively and from what I’ve seen of players like Will Spencer, Guy Thompson and Dave Denton so far, they’re all experienced guys who will add power to our forward pack.
“It’s not just important we have a good first choice ‘front eight’, you need an extra set of forwards as well because of the way the league is.
“The coaches have recognised that and the people coming in need to raise the bar because you need that strength in depth over the season.
“Only winning is good enough here and we didn’t do enough of it last year, particularly at home, but I’m confident we’ll be much better than we were last season. We feel we certainly should be better with the talent and squad we’ve got.”
Eight of May’s tries last season came in ten appearances for England, taking his international tally to 17 tries in 37 Tests since his debut since 2013.
Having notched tries in each of England’s last five games, May is in stellar form. However, the 28-year-old knows he can never take his Test place for granted in the face of stiff competition, which now includes returning Sale wing Chris Ashton.
“I’m definitely not comfortable,” said May. “I’ve no idea what Eddie Jones is thinking, all I know is where I stand at the moment, but if I want to play for England in future I’ve got to get even better and that’s what I’m focussing on.
“Last season was one of my best so far but I still feel there’s a lot of growth in me and I’m now coming into my peak years as an athlete.
“I want to get it right and part of that was joining Leicester. That’s what I needed to challenge myself and although you don’t like to speak too soon, it certainly helped me take my game on and I want to keep going in that direction.”
Speed is a constant work-on for May, for whom a two-week trip to the Michael Johnson Performance Centre in Dallas, Texas, last month was part of that process.
He explained: “I had a nasty knee injury at Gloucester after the 2015 World Cup which took me most of the 2016/17 season to get over, so as I’d been to the States before, I decided to go again and it was an awesome couple of weeks.
“My plan is quite simple: my strength is my speed and I want to set my game apart with that and just keep getting faster and faster.”
May welcomes Ashton’s challenge, adding: “We’ve never played together but he is one of the best in the world at tracking the ball and getting on the end of tries and I watched a lot of him growing up, thinking, ‘bloody hell, he’s good’.
“In fact, the talent England have winger-wise is unbelievable so I want to keep using that competition to bring the very best in me.”