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England star Jonny May faced post-RWC court summons

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

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.

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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.

(Continue reading below…)

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

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“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!”

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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.

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“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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J
JW 2 hours ago
Mick Cleary: 'These blokes have done the jersey proud, with their buy-in and with their relish.'

Jesus PR that’s another great conclusion. I can definitely see it as blocker to bringing through new talent in time for the WC. NZ underwent a lot of change in 2018 following the Lions tour, in part thanks to key injuries. Despite the revenue spending Aaron Cruden (getting frail even at his young age then) and Lima Sopoaga (along with Julien Savea), 2 of the 3 1st5s in the Lions squad, both left before the 2019 WC for example. But when we apply your logic, their delayed departure prevented Richie Mounga and Damien McKenzie (the 15 who got injured and threw a spanner in the works) from brought through in what would possible now be considered the preferred WC preparation. Ditto on the win with a scramble of constant change their all the way through to their WC 3rd/4th playoff.


Theres certainly cause to account for certain circumstances eventuating being influenced by a Lions tour. But as both nations here select from domestic players only, theres also cause to put similar emphasis on the contracting model in general, as sometimes you can hold on too long. Ireland has a similar model, talking to another irishman here he suggests it has lead to selecting based on contracts, money being spent on a player centrally contracted. So I would not so much worry about fatigue (in part because some incomplete analysis I had done on all.rugby shows the Irish contingent have low minutes this year) but continuing to select underperforming and aging players. When in a pure context of building for a WC, one would normally want to move on an develop the future.

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