May reveals anger at Borthwick after preliminary Rugby World Cup snub
The England wing had simply been informed he wouldn’t be going to the Rugby World Cup – a full week earlier than Borthwick would title his 33-man squad.
Head coach Borthwick had damaged the dangerous news in jarringly blunt circumstances, additionally telling May he wouldn’t play in that Saturday’s warm-up Test in opposition to Wales in Cardiff.
May stomped off questioning to himself why he was even nonetheless coaching with England at their Pennyhill Park centre in Bagshot.
After banging about some weights for 10 minutes although, May requested for one more chat with head coach Borthwick – and shortly shifted his mindset.
This was Monday, July 31, at which level the Gloucester wing was out of the blue very a lot on the surface trying in so far as the World Cup was involved. Jump ahead to the tip of August, and May slotted again in after Anthony Watson broken his calf.
Now the 33-year-old is relishing each second with England in France, regardless of lacking residence life spouse Sophie and new-born son Jaxon.
“The truth is that on the Monday before Wales he spoke to me and said, ‘as it currently stands, you’re not playing at the weekend and aren’t in the 33’,” mentioned May.
“That got my money out, I’ll be honest. I was like, ‘well what the hell am I doing here this week?’ I felt like that in that moment. I’m not going and I’m not playing at the weekend so why the hell am I here?
“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, because, why am I here? I’ve got my son at home’.
“He said he didn’t want me to go home because I am next in and it doesn’t look good if you quit now and then have to be called back in.
“So I was like, ‘fair enough’, that was a good point. And I’d done this much time now, just calm down, and plough on with it. But that was my initial response.
“I was disappointed because I expressed in week one I wanted a game and an opportunity to play. It looked like I wasn’t going to get that and I felt I’d worked hard and trained well, I really wanted it.
“There’s no right or wrong to tell somebody they’re not in the team and I understand that from Steve’s part. I reacted angrily but rationally. I didn’t scream and shout at him. I’m glad I stayed and then the opportunity came to stay and train, and then I calmed down.”
Steve Borthwick satisfied Jonny May that staying with the squad was the best choice
/ Getty ImagesEngland will face an Argentina aspect ranked above them in Saturday’s World Cup opener in Marseille. The bookies have been struggling to resolve who to put in as favourites for the tie, all however hedging their very own bets.
May expects most of the people to treat England as underdogs – and the considerate, insightful speedster insisted he’s totally snug with the evaluation.
“We went into the last World Cup with a lot of results behind us and a lot of preparation behind us,” mentioned May.
“We knew exactly what we were. 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 to make it a positive. There are positives of being in this situation, in that people have written us off, the expectation is low.
“That’s quite refreshing in some ways because we know we can be a lot better than we have been. We do know we’ve got good players and we know we can be a good side.
“I think people would think they’re favourites for this game. I think people look at us as underdogs and I think people have written us off a little bit.
“We’re embracing that within this group and paying as much attention as each person wants to but ultimately focusing on what we’ve got to do, getting tighter as a group and believing a bit more each day.”