England star Jonny May faced post-RWC court summons

Jonny May was brought back down to earth after England's march to the World Cup final by a court summons and a drubbing at Northampton.

The Leicester wing admits he endured a difficult period of readjustment after two months in Japan which ended in a 32-12 defeat by South Africa in the climax to an otherwise superb tournament.

"You go home and you have got to cook your breakfast and do your washing. You have God knows how many letters from the council tax office and a summons to court," May said.

"I am not going to court any time soon. That was one of the priority ones. You have to call them up. It's difficult. It's like, 'Oh cheers, welcome back'.

"Things accumulate and life goes on and it does take a bit of time to get things back in order.

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Eddie Jones and England captain Owen Farrell at the launch of the Six Nations tournament

"You tick one job off your list and it creates two more. You will never get to the bottom of your to-do list."

When asked if he thought Leicester County Council should have relaxed its deadline for payment because he was playing for England at a World Cup, May said: "No! I am just a number, whatever my reference number was. One of lots of numbers!"

The return to normality hit hardest several weeks after his return, however, as Leicester were overwhelmed 36-13 by East Midlands rivals Northampton.

"It doesn't help when you go away to Saints and get absolutely pounded. Rugby will bring you back down to earth," said May, whose only time off post-Japan has been four days spent in Dubai with his wife.

"We went out there and it was like, 'Jesus we have not got to where we need to'. It was a tough block of games because we had worked incredibly hard.

"It was not back to the drawing board, but we needed to get something out of the next block of games and we did, we turned it around a bit."

- Press Association

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