May’s finishing skills praised after wonder try floors Irish
EX-TIGERS WINGER NOW SECOND JOINT HIGHEST ENGLAND TRY SCORER BEHIND UNDERWOOD
HEAD coach Eddie Jones acclaimed the clinical finishing skills of Jonny May after the England wing ran in a sensational try as Ireland were flattened 18-7 in the Autumn Nations Cup at Twickenham, writes Duncan Bech and Ed Elliot of PA Sport
Former Leicester Tigers star May ended his five-Test scoring drought in spectacular fashion as two firsthalf touchdowns lifted him to second in the all-time Red Rose list alongside World Cup winners Ben Cohen and Will Greenwood on 31.
It leaves only Tigers legend Rory Underwood in front and even the England great would have been beaming with pride at May’s second, a breathtaking solo effort that started inside his own 22 and combined elusive running, speed and vision.
When asked where May ranks among the wings he has coached, the veteran Australian said: “Jonny’s right up there if you consider he’s 30 and is still improving every aspect of his game.
“He’s such a dedicated trainer and is obsessed about getting better. He’s a great role model for all the players in the teams.
“When you consider the player he was… I remember watching him in the 2015 World Cup and at one stage he was going to end up in Row K. Now he’s a serious finisher.”
May afterwards was unable to recall the wonder try that blasted Ireland out of contention.
“Everything happened really quickly, I can’t really remember it at the moment,” May said.
“Off the back of good work defensively it creates the turnover and gives us the ball in space, so credit to the pack.
“I don’t have enough time to think about it when it’s like that off a quick turnover ball.
“There are just so many feelings and emotions when you score a try for your country – it’s such a great feeling, but you have to quickly get back to the job and see the game out. It is awesome scoring tries for England.”
For his opener, May outjumped Hugo Keenan to catch Owen Farrell’s crossfield kick and touch down.
“The first one was advantage and you have a shot to nothing. I had exactly the same against Georgia and I didn’t get it, so I practised it last week because I was annoyed with myself. I ended up getting it here,” he said.
May insists eclipsing the record set by Underwood is not on his radar.
“You don’t start rugby to achieve those sort of things, those are the things that you reflect on when you are done playing – so just head down and keep working hard at the moment and see where I can take my game,” he said.
“Tries are great and I love scoring them, but they come and go and every week I have to make sure I defend well, my basics have to be brilliant.”
England produced a remarkable defensive display, consisting of 232 tackles in comparison to Ireland’s 64, to extend their winning run in the fixture to four conclusive wins.
“We controlled most of the game,” said Jones. “We went in with certain things we wanted to take away from them and certain things we wanted to impose. For the best part of the game we did that.” Jones said.
“England v Ireland games are always tough games. They’ve got a strong forward pack, we’ve got a strong forward pack. It’s a tough old game.
“At times we dominated physically and we’ve got a bit more to go there.”
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell admits his side are currently lagging behind “fabulous” England but urged his players to keep the faith during a period of transition.