May pushed by ‘fear’ as he urges England to keep away from returning to ‘zero’
J
onny May has laid naked the realities of battling to appease the fickle mistress that’s skilled rugby.
The England wing admitted he lives with a wholesome dose of worry day by day in his profession – the specter of being caught chilly precisely on the purpose of anticipating to ship.
Gloucester star May believes England’s 27-10 win over Argentina that opened their Rugby World Cup marketing campaign has Steve Borthwick’s males again on high in public notion.
But the 33-year-old insisted England can fall proper again down straight method with out one other top-drawer efficiency in Sunday’s Pool D conflict with Japan.
Champions once more in wider opinions after beating the Pumas, May has warned England to not let that good work go to waste, and danger ending up trying like chumps towards Japan.
“Rugby is a cruel game and can catch you at any point,” stated May.
“You have to be on it the whole time and do everything you possibly can, and even when you do all that then rugby can sometimes punish you anyway.
“I live with that bit of fear. I think the boys do as well but some boys are more reward-driven and they will want to get the win to feel the reward and get the fans behind them.
“I am probably more threat-driven. I am worried about things that can go wrong.
“Either way rugby has to keep you on your toes the whole time and Japan are a dangerous team, they move and pass the ball more than anyone else in the world so like I said we are going to have to be on it. We are going to have to be sharp.
“It was only one result against Argentina, and we went from zeroes to heroes in a week and we don’t want to slide back down to a zero.
“We know where we stand with that. We are not too great. We’re not too bad. We just know we need to get better. And we want to keep working hard and improving.”
England arrived on the World Cup off the again of six defeats in 9 matches below new boss Borthwick.
The 30-22 loss to Fiji at Twickenham on August 26 closed a depressing run of three defeats in 4 World Cup warm-up Tests, and proved their first-ever reverse towards the Pacific Islanders.
England dominated Argentina up entrance in Marseille final weekend although, even coping manfully with Tom Curry’s third-minute crimson card. Now May has referred to as on the Red Rose facet to not let that momentum slip by means of their fingers.
“I dread to think how it would have been in camp if we had lost that game,” he stated.
“It has been a tough, tough four to six weeks. For all the hard work we have put in, to have things thrown at us, it has been testament to the team to stay tight and keep focusing on.
“It is very hard to get distracted by outside noise and opinions. For belief to stay intact and to focus in and then to produce a performance is testament to everybody, not just the coaches and the players but the whole backroom staff and everybody here.”