England’s Jonny May reveals how he lost his rag with Steve Borthwick and almost walked out of Rugby World Cup camp

• Jonny May has discussed how he got annoyed with Steve Borthwick last month
• England winger nearly quit the Rugby World Cup camp but dust has now settled 
• May opened up on wanting to leave to be with his young son and first child Jaxon

Tucked away in a shady corner of England’s training base in Le Touquet, occasionally scratching the mosquito bites on his legs, Jonny May is explaining how he lost his rag with Steve Borthwick last month.

The dust has settled now but there was a point when the winger almost walked out of camp. It was not long after the birth of his first child, Jaxon, when he was given an early heads-up that he was not in the original World Cup squad.

‘The truth is that on the Monday before we played Wales, Steve spoke to me and said as it stands you’re not playing at the weekend and aren’t in the 33,’ says May. 

‘That got my monkey out, I’ll be honest. I was like, “Well, what the hell am I doing here this week?”

‘I reacted angrily but rationally. I went to the gym for 10 minutes and then stomped back to him and said I need another chat. I said, “I’m running this by you because maybe I don’t want to be here this week. Why am I here? I’ve got my son at home”.

Jonny May has discussed how he got annoyed with England coach Steve Borthwick last month

Borthwick told winger May that he would not be involved in the country’s World Cup squad

May and his wife Sophie welcomed their son Jaxon into the world recently and the England star was frustrated he could not be at home if he was unlikely to be in the squad

‘He said he didn’t want me to go home because I was next in and it wouldn’t look good if I quit now, then had to be called back in. I was like, “Fair enough, good point. Just calm down and plough on with it”.’

A few weeks later, after a cruel twist of injury fate for Anthony Watson, May was called up to start in the warm-up game against Fiji. He scored eight minutes into the match, ending a six-hour try drought for England’s backs and booking his place in the final touring party.

‘Things turned around,’ he says. ‘Obviously I am gutted for Anthony — it’s a cruel game at times, you learn that as you get older. Cruel in two ways: you can not get picked and you can get hurt.’

Plans changed quickly. May ordered tickets and accommodation for his young family last week, then headed for France, revealing a sense of relief as the team flew away from the cauldron of criticism that has bubbled throughout England’s disastrous summer.

‘I wrote in my little notebook that it’s a new chapter now, and turned over a nice clean page,’ he says. ‘We’ve had lots to deal with the past few months — disappointing results, injuries, bans. 

‘You can feel that pressure from outside, whether that’s ex-players, media or social media. You can feel the vultures circling. That’s the world we live in. It was a lot to witness.

‘You see it with politicians when they’re doing something slimy but all we’re trying to do here is our very best. We understand the frustration and we share it. I’m gutted about it but the nasty stuff is what I struggle to understand.’

The odds are stacked against England. May knows that. He has played for his country 76 times and the mood could not be further from the air of expectation four years ago. 

But after Anthony Watson’s injury, May started the warm-up game against Fiji and scored a try

‘We went into the last World Cup with a lot of results and preparation behind us,’ he says. ‘We pretty much knew what the team was, for a start. 

‘There was a lot more certainty. This time, we’re definitely underdogs. We’re still finding our way, we’re still finding our team, we’re still discovering ourselves.

‘All you can do is flip it into a positive. Expectation is low. That’s quite refreshing in some ways because we know we can be a lot better than we have been.’

First up is Argentina on Saturday night, when May could be lining up against a number of his Gloucester team-mates. 

‘They stay in the fight,’ he says. ‘It’s a game that will go the whole distance. ‘They’re favourites. We’ve just got to play the cards we’ve got and turn it into a good hand.’

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