Finally some good fortune for England’s missing man

JONNY May scored on his comeback to cap a perfect start to the Challenge Cup for former champions Gloucester.

England wing May has been out for nine months with a knee injury but marked his return to rugby with a cruciallytimed score. Gloucester were struggling to handle Bayonne’s driving lineout that had just claimed a third try to narrow the gap to two points at 29-27.

James Hook, who kicked 17 points, slotted a penalty before May opened up daylight that set up a strong finish from David Humphreys’ side at the end of a thrilling clash.

May said: “The try was a bit fortunate but perhaps I deserved some luck after a tough nine months. I was more pleased just to be back involved for the first time in a long time. I’ve enjoyed travelling with the boys and being part of the team.

“This is a difficult place to come and they had a very strong rolling maul. We gave away a lot of penalties but we showed enough to get the win and we haven’t done that enough this season.”

Gloucester ran out at Stade Jean-Dauger in their black, yellow and red 125th anniversary jerseys and revelled in the French sunshine as they raced into a 21-6 lead after just 16 minutes.

Mark Atkinson burst onto a delightful pass from Billy Twelvetrees and Matt Scott strolled through after a welltimed interception.

Atkinson grabbed a second after Hook found May with a well-placed cross-field kick. May was held short but had the awareness to hand Atkinson an easy finish. Hook converted all three tries to cap a breathless opening.

Bayonne dominated the scrum and driving mauls that set up a tries for Thibault Lacroix and then Simon Labouyrie and also forced an early exit for Paul Doran-Jones.

Hook chipped away with more penalties and when he snagged Meret on the Bayonne try-line, Gloucester’s forwards flooded forward and Twelvetrees touched down.

Bayonne’s forward power told again as back row Dion Outai rumbled over before May scorched clear thanks to quick thinking from skipper Willi Heinz from a penalty and Joe Latta’s pass.

Gloucester dug deep amid a Bayonne backlash, not least when prop Motu Matu’u was binned for dragging down a maul.

But Lewis Ludlow, Jacob Rowan and replacement Matt Kvesic defended hard before Tom Savage charged over in the final minute.