Jonny May enjoying the home comforts as England wing's try record at Twickenham speaks for itself
All eight of the Gloucester wing's international tries have come at the home of English rugby
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Your support makes all the difference.England head coach Eddie Jones has demanded “tries and plenty of them” from left wing Jonny May, after recalling the 26-year-old Gloucester flyer to the team to face Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.
It would be no surprise if May delivered on his end of the bargain, as every one of the eight tries he has scored during his 24 Tests for England has been dotted down at his country’s home stadium.
After making 23 starts since his debut wearing the red rose in June 2013, the pacy May was demoted to the bench in favour of the more direct, “through-the-line” Jack Nowell for the 21-16 win over Wales in Cardiff two weeks ago.
But with Jones promising to take Italy “to the cleaners” in Sunday’s third-round Six Nations Championship match, May has been given another chance from the off to show why he is one of the two quickest men in the England squad (along with Bath’s Anthony Watson).
Jones believes there is always room for improvement and he even ordered May to have a shave this week - “he had a thick beard and it made him look slow,” said Jones. “He’s quick now.”
But May’s record at Twickenham bears comparison with the best – he has scored eight tries in his last 14 appearances at England’s ‘headquarters’, as well as grabbing one there for his club in the ‘Stinger’ Premiership match against Wasps in April 2014.
Here’s how they came:
v New Zealand, 8 November 2014, north-west corner, May leaves the All Blacks’ centre Conrad Smith trailing as he runs a brilliant outside arc from the halfway line;
v Samoa, 22 November 2014, south centre-field, May goes looking for work infield from a line-out, and scores with a 30-metre dash up the middle;
v Samoa, 22 November 2014, north-west corner, England’s tight forwards add extra hands to the threequarter line before full-back Mike Brown frees May for a finishing sprint;
v France, 15 August 2015, north-west corner, Owen Farrell senses space and passes deep to full-back Alex Goode whose cross-kick lands perfectly for May on the left wing;
v Ireland, 5 September 2015, south-east corner, a show of strength from May this time as he blasts through Irish wing Tommy Bowe to finish off Ben Youngs’s cut-out pass;
v Wales, 26 September 2015, south-east corner, scrum-half Youngs picks up from a ruck and draws the Welsh defence to send May over at the corner before he narrows the angle for the conversion;
v South Africa, 12 November 2016, south-east corner, fellow wing Marland Yarde scoops up a loose ball and combines with Brown to put May into the corner;
v Argentina, 26 November 2016, north-west corner, great hands on the short side of a ruck by George Ford, Tom Wood and Jonathan Joseph feed the ever-hungry May.
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