>> May: England have given me licence to thrill
JONNY May faces Italy today aiming to show Eddie Jones he is a cut above the rest of his wing rivals after “monster” training sessions and being ordered to shave off his beard.
The Gloucester ace insists he has been given a licence to roam and destroy from all directions as England attempt to see off the Azzurri, take another big step towards back-to-back Grand Slams, and make it 17 successive wins.
Having rescued victory from the jaws of defeat at home to France and then against Wales in Cardiff, Dylan Hartley and his men will be expected to pile more Six Nations misery on Italy head coach Conor O’Shea and his struggling visitors.
And May, 26, winning his 25th cap having got the nod ahead of Bath’s Anthony Watson on the right wing, wants to play a starring role. He insists: “I just want to go out there and do the best I can. I aim to go hard from the start and carry on. It’s very tight for spots and I have to show I deserve to have one in the side.
“Eddie just said to me it’s my job to worry about selection and it’s mine to worry about performing well on the field. That’s the best piece of advice you can get really.
“He wants me to work hard, put pace on the ball and be decisive when the openings come along. He also wants me to score tries and I have a licence to pop up anywhere.
“Eddie doesn’t need to justify what he’s doing to me, but I’m just trying to get better and when he says you’re a finisher, that’s equally as important.”
May had no problem with Jones getting him to be clean cut in order to have a fresher physical edge at Twickenham. And he is very happy to prove the Aussie right for bringing him back into the lineup after being benched for the victory over Wales.
He said: “Eddie is always trying to make me better, pushing me harder and his attention to detail is second to none. He wants me to run deeper, wider, flatter, faster. He’s always on me pushing me. He just wants me to get better and better. That goes for everyone.
“The training is tough but we enjoy it. We realise we can train harder than we have and we are reaping the rewards. The hard training is showing on the field as we have finished the first two games pretty well. That’s because last week was supposed to be a fallow week but we had two monstrous sessions.
“We get good feedback with the data we get from our GPS, our accelerations, our top speed, our high intensity metres and everything. We’re finding ways to raise the bar and we’re not going to put limits on it.
“Our sessions are continuing to get harder and our results are getting better so we’re improving. Eddie says it all the time we want to be the best team in the world.”
May would love to help Owen Farrell celebrate his 50th appearance for his country in style this afternoon.
And he understands just why people are predicting the son of former Rugby League hero and England coach Andy will lead the side in the not-too-distant future.
Jones chose to keep Dylan Hartley as his leader for a game England will be expected to win fairly comfortably, rather than give Farrell the chance to show his captaincy skills.
May said: “Owen is an out-and-out leader. He leads by example and we all follow him. He has been in this environment for a while now and he is wise beyond his years.
“We will have a team meeting the night before the game and we will talk about the fact it is Owen’s 50th cap but he won’t want it to be about him.
“He is never phased and is a competitor who wants to win all the time. He loves the physical element of the game and never whimps out of anything. He inspires you on on and off the field.”