ENGLAND DEALT MAY COVID BLOW

JONNY MAY has dealt England the first body blow of their tour of Australia by testing positive for Covid.

The wing returned the result yesterday, a day after England landed in Perth, and now faces a week in lockdown and a race to be fit for next Saturday’s first Test against the Wallabies.

May (above), 32, has started just one game, against the Barbarians last Sunday, since suffering a severe knee injury in January which wrecked his Six Nations.

He will not be able to train with the rest of the group until Thursday.

England coach Eddie Jones said: “Potentially he’ll be available next Thursday to train, so we’ll have a look to see what he’s like.

“He’s experienced and showed in his first game back against the Barbarians, where he was lacking gametime, that he’s got his best rugby ahead of him.”

But Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie is back training after being out since February with a knee injury and could feature in the first Test.

He was part of the squad which won 3-0 here in 2016 and Jones has challenged his squad to deliver more of the same.

Cowan-Dickie said: “Australia’s a place where you can become a special team. In every sport where the Aussies are successful, they’re coming at you.

“So we’ve got to make sure we go at them, which takes a lot of courage.”