IN DEPTH WITH...Jonny May

Since the days of being in the back garden of his home, passing the ball to his dad, Jonny May had dreamed of pulling on the white jersey of England to face the best players in the world.

When the 24-year-old received a pass from Brad Barritt, he was given that opportunity as he stared into the eyes with one of the best defenders in the game, New Zealand’s Conrad Smith.

At this point, you could forgive the winger, who had not scored in his first seven starts at international level, for transforming into a deer caught in the headlights.

Instead, the man who started his rugby with Royal Wootton Bassett, put his head down and broke the line as if the All Black legend wasn’t there.

His work was not done, with Israel Dagg bearing down on him, but May was able to put the afterburners on again and skipped past the challenge with inches to spare between him and the touchline.

“I had the opportunity and maybe in my first few games for England in the Six Nations, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go for it, but I knew if I was given that chance, I would be ready for it, and luckily enough, I got it and it all went well,” said May, reflecting on the score which was nominated for the IRPA Try of the Year prize.

“I feel like, in the autumn, I kind of found my feet at that level and pushed on and did well.

“The pressure of being a winger - I think that was my seventh game and I hadn’t scored – meant I hadn’t really excelled to my potential, and it was good to show everybody what I could do.”

May was five when he joined Bassett, playing with them until he was 16. Many at the club still gather now on a Saturday afternoon to see him step out in front of thousands at Twickenham, with a select few having had the privilege of watching the games live as a way for the 24-year-old to say ‘thank you’ for the platform the club gave him.

It wasn’t easy for May and even he would have been shocked if you told him at that time, when everyone around him was growing faster than he was, that one day he would be representing his country.

“One of the youngest things I remember is just chucking a ball around with my dad and just saying to him ‘when can I go and join the club?’,” he said.

“I was always going to join a club at five, the youngest that I could, and just stick with it along with other sports. But rugby was my first sport and the one I stuck with for the longest as well.

May goes over to score a try against Samoa last November

An influential figure in May’s development was his PE teacher at Ridgeway School, Tim Whiting.

Whiting formed part of the guard of honour organised by sponsors QBE for May’s appearance against Australia last year and encouraged him to follow a wide range of sports from an early age, even including pole vaulting.

“Ridgeway was more about just getting me playing sport really,” added May who was also a star 200m runner.

“I did everything and anything. I enjoyed basketnall, football and the biggest one would have been athletics.

“The athletics was great because we had a lot of guys who were big guys and fast guys at a young age, and we ended up winning the national championships in 2003 and 2005 - and that is unheard of for a relatively low-key school in the middle of Swindon.

“It was a great taste of competitive sport and when it matters, putting yourself under pressure and coming through it and being in the team and enjoying it.

“He just encouraged me to go into a range of sports. Whatever it was, all those skills that I picked up - for instance I did a lot of pole vault, which is something I would not have done if it wasn’t for him - it is those skills that build you as an athlete.

“I learnt a lot at that young age and it shaped me to be relatively athletic now from the skills I picked up.

“Football went first and then athletics but it was always going to be rugby. It was just a matter that I wanted to keep going with as many sports as I could because I was doing well in them and it was good fun.”

May left Ridgeway and Bassett behind him and moved to Hartpury College in Gloucester, a specialist college giving aspiring rugby players the ideal environment to develop their game.

He was far from the best player when he started at the age of 16 but he put in the hours of hard work and was rewarded at the end of the two years with the phone call he had always wanted to make.

“It was more the phone call when I got to ring my dad,” said May, with a big smile coming to his face.

“It has never been an easy journey but I feel that I have always made progress, even if you have to go backwards to go forwards.

“When I went to Hartpury, I was probably a county B player, or barely that. A good little player, but you come in to that sort of environment and you have international under 16s and academy players and great county and club players.

“I think at 16, I was still in that development stage where I was being overtaken a fair bit by my mates because they grew up a bit quicker than me, which was tough.

“But I still thought I would give it a crack and go to Hartpury College, and at the end of those two years, I had caught them up and was playing some good rugby. And all the hard work that I put in during that stage, when I was getting overtaken, paid off.

“From the end of my second year, I was thinking I was in quite a good place, irrespective of whether I got a contract with Gloucester, because I was playing some good rugby.

“I went there as a small fish in a big pond and I was in the third team in my first year, but I worked my socks off and kept trying. And in that two years, I grew up a lot and matured and by the end of it, I was in the first team and got a contract with Gloucester.

“It was so out of the blue because they obviously had Henry Trinder and I was playing 13 in those days.

“I thought my rugby was going well but I was planning to go to the university here and then when I finished university, assess where I was then.

“A lot of players do get picked up at the university and I knew I was still up and coming, but I got my chance with Gloucester and it went well, and I got to ring my dad - and it was a good feeling.

“That is what I like doing. It is as much for my family and the people who have got me to where I am.

“It is good to play well for them because they get a nice feeling from it and it is a nice thing for me to do well for them, to invite them to the games. All the achievements that I make, they’re a part of that, so it is paying back to them as much as it is a reward for me as well.”

May was soon impressing for the Cherry and Whites and got his first taste of international rugby in 2012.

He didn’t gain a full cap that year but, after missing out on being selected for the England tour of South Africa, he received a late call-up and scored two tries in England’s midweek win over Super Rugby side The Sharks.

“I thought that I was going to go on tour and didn’t go, so I was pretty down about it because I’d had a good season but it didn’t finish great,” he said.

“It has never been a straightforward easy path for me. I have always had to take a step back if I have had a hit and come back, and I think I have always come back stronger and learned from it.

“I kept training and I was like ‘screw it, I’m just going to get better.’ So I trained really hard and when I did get the phone call out of the blue to go out there (South Africa), I was in great shape. I went out and played some good rugby in a midweek game.

“That was a good point to prove and put my name in there for future reference really.

“The fact that I didn’t get in and went away and I got in really good shape and trained hard; it paid off. When I got out there and did get my chance, I took it.”

The following year was a difficult one for May.

After returnin from South Africa, he sustained an injury to his knee, which resulted in him missing half of the season.

May admitted that his confidence was severely knocked at that time and he found it frustrating being on the sidelines.

However, the winger came back stronger as a result and was rewarded with his first cap in the summer of 2013.

As has been the way throughout his career, even that was not straightforward.

“I had a really good second half of the season, went on tour and got my first cap. But again, on tour, it didn’t look like I was going to get a cap for a while,” he said.

“Christian Wade got called up to the Lions on the day of the Test, so I went from not being involved to starting on the morning of the Test match. It has worked out but it hasn’t been a conventional straight-line path.”

May’s England career blossomed into life with that try on Saturday November 8.

He had answered his critics and the whole world sat up and took notice of the former Ridgeway pupil.

Despite the relief that was written all over his face after touching down over the white line, May admits that he feels under even more pressure now as he aims for a place in the squad for the home World Cup this summer.

He knows that he will have to stake his claim at the Six Nations that begin next month.

May is desperate to cement his place in Stuart Lancaster’s squad - not for himself, but to repay those who have put in so much time to get him to where he is today.

“It is weird. You come back and you think maybe it is going to be easier and after that try, the pressure is off,” he added.

“But it is not and I probably feel more stressed out than ever.

“The expectation on me from myself and others is probably bigger than ever, so I have to make sure I keep working hard and keep improving because I expect more from myself now.

“You don’t want to think about things too much. You want to go out there and play your own game and you don’t want to put yourself under too much pressure, but it is the nature of the game. I am never satisfied and I just want to keep improving and playing well.

“There is a lot to come before then but what an occasion that would be. (The World Cup) would be big for me but it is big for the people around me like the Tim Whitings, the Clive Adams and my dad and my family. It is as much for them as it is for me.”