My England tour was two training sessions... and Covid isolation!
May reveals virus hell Down Under
JONNY MAY has opened up about an England tour Down Under ruined by Covid, saying: ‘Really, my trip was two training sessions and a lot of mental torment.’
After missing a large chunk of last season with a knee injury, the 32-year-old Gloucester wing had recovered in time to be selected by Eddie Jones for the three-Test trip to Australia. But rather than making his mark on a victorious series, he spent much of the time on his own.
May struggled with jet lag on the first night in Perth. Then it went from bad to worse. ‘I travelled out and caught Covid,’ he said. ‘I went down to the physio room in the morning with the agenda of saying, “Doc, I can’t train today, I am knackered”. The doc said, “I’ll Covid test you”. I took a lateral flow, went back to my room and had seven days in isolation.
‘I was pretty sick. I started getting hot. My jet lag protocol went out the window. I fell asleep at 6pm and didn’t wake up till 2.30pm the next day, with the doc banging my door down because he thought I might be dying.
‘I lost 6kg and was pretty ill. The really weird thing was the knee I had just come back from swelled up like a balloon, and got really red and hot. I couldn’t see anyone so I was texting the physios from my room, saying, “My knee’s a bit sore”, and they were like, “It’ll be fine, it is stiff from the flight”.
‘The day I got out, they said, “Let’s go for a little run”. I could barely run, it was that sore.’
May’s quarantine stint involved a tricky relocation process, as England moved from a base outside Perth, into the city. He had to be transferred carefully.
‘It was all a bit of a blur,’ he said. ‘I got put in a van with this ultramask on, driven across town, around the back of a hotel, up this lift that must be used for laundry or a food cart up to the top floor, and that was me on my own for seven days. The closest I got to the lads was when they went to the State of Origin (rugby league), I was watching and saw them on the telly.’
Instead of preparing for a series opener at the nearby Optus Stadium, May was staving off boredom. ‘I watched a lot of Aussie Rules Football,’ he said. ‘ They have a whole channel for it. I watched all of Stranger Things, series four. That was brilliant.
‘I watched Tom Brady — Man in the Arena. What I took from that is how he always has an influence on his team-mates. I was thinking, “If I get out of my room, just have a good influence. Do what you can. I’m not in the best position to contribute on the pitch, so just try to help in other ways”.’
May joked that he felt like Mr Burns from The Simpsons — ‘all weak and tired’ — but encouraged by Jones, he strove to regain sufficient fitness and sharpness to come back into consideration for selection.
‘When Eddie announced the team on the Monday of the last week and I wasn’t in it, I was actually quite relieved,’ he said. ‘I would have given it a go, but I didn’t feel up to it, to be honest.’
He took satisfaction from helping the rookie back-three players and has high hopes for two of them in particular — London Irish pair Henry Arundell and Will Joseph.
‘They’re talented players — Henry and JJ (Jonathan Joseph)’s brother,’ he said. ‘I roomed with him during the BaaBaas week, and he literally looks like JJ, walks like JJ, runs like JJ.
‘These guys are good. It’s exciting. We’ve seen a lot of young guys come in and run around, but Will and Henry are my picks of the bunch. They’re talented and I can see them getting lots of caps for England.’
For his part, May still wants more caps and the World Cup — a year away — is still a target.
‘You have those things in the back of your head,’ he said. But for now, being fit to play for Gloucester is his over-riding objective.
‘My thoughts now are just, get healthy, be healthy and play some rugby,’ he added. ‘I haven’t been this excited to play for a long time.
I’ve done so many rehab sessions, running on my own, sitting in my hotel room. I just want to play now.’