Vary of competition, Jonny May eager to regain England wing berth

After being dropped against Wales, Jonny May is now fighting for his first XV spot with four fit rival wingers.

The Gloucester man received a yellow card on 4th February for a dangerous tackle on Gael Fickou at Twickenham - and days later demoted to the bench against Wales in Cardiff with Jack Nowell preferred for the starting spot.

Injuries, at one stage or another, to May, Anthony Watson and Nowell did not permit head coach Eddie Jones to be able to pick two from these three in any of his matches in charge of England.

But for the first time he can pick from May, Nowell, Elliot Daly and Watson against Italy on Sunday. Last week the indications were that Mike Brown may retain the No15 jersey and Daly would switch from wing to outside-centre, leaving the two wide spots up for grabs.

“It is that tight for spots that you have got to be at your best in training as well as on game day if you want to be selected,” May said.

“The competition is tough. You don’t know who is going to play but ultimately that is a good thing for us because we want to be the best team in the world, and competing with each other is only going to make us better players. Eddie can choose who he wants to win certain games.”

Jones has already made it clear that he prefers his wings to fall into one of two categories: a worker-bee such as Nowell or Marland Yarde or a racehorse speedster such as May or Watson.

May aware of the fact, feels he is more directly in competition with Watson for the spot.

“I guess me and Ant would be under the racehorse category, so I guess we are competing for spots with one another there,” May said. “We’re both quick guys and it’ll be for Eddie to decide who he wants.”

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