 conversations I had with Steve. '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'.'){kind=link}
Gloucester wing insists England are close to clicking despite expectations being low after one win in six games
What’s worse than being dropped for a World Cup squad? Ask Jonny May and he will tell you that it is being dropped and then being asked to stick around as an extra body in training.
The Gloucester wing, whose son, Jaxon was born in May, was told by head coach Steve Borthwick that he would not be part of the original 33-man squad at the start of week leading into the opening warm-up game against Wales. The caveat was that Borthwick wanted May to assist with preparations for the rest of the warm-up games like he had his nose pressed to the glass of a party to which he was not invited.
May is a pretty relaxed sort, but admits that nearly exploded with fury when Borthwick broke the news to him. “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,” said May who was called up when Anthony Watson injured his calf. “That got my monkey 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?'”
“On top of that my son, Jaxon, was born in the middle of my off-season which was amazing because I had two weeks with no schedule with him. But then to go away from home, me and Soph were honest about it, it’s going to be bloody c— because to miss all that and then [miss out on the squad]. So I’ve missed all that time with him, and I’m not going, and no game. It was pretty dark but again what helps is those (previous) conversations I had with Steve.