England are having to deal with a couple of unforeseen issues before Saturday’s game against Australia. The first is the risk of complacency, having already enjoyed the unprecedented luxury of a 3-0 series win over the Wallabies in June. The second is making sure their wing Jonny May keeps away from set pieces, the Gloucester maverick having emerged as the world’s worst scrummager against Argentina.
Mike Brown, England’s full-back, is confident England will remain firmly focused as they seek to secure a record-equalling 14th successive Test victory but he and his team-mates are still shaking their heads at May’s attempt to assist his prop Mako Vunipola at an England scrum in the second half of the Test against Argentina.
Instead of binding on to his second-row in his role as an emergency flanker, May ended up in completely the wrong place, sticking his head between Vunipola’s legs and wrapping his arm around the startled loosehead’s thigh. The resultant clip has caused much merriment across social media and inside the England dressing room.
“It’s madness,” said the scrum-half Ben Youngs. “It’s amazing he’s played rugby all his life but doesn’t know where his head’s supposed to go when he plays No7. Mako was a little bit confused when he saw Jonny’s head pop between his legs. Luckily we got the ball in and out.”
May’s unconventional methods also extend to the training pitch, where he has a habit of going awol if Eddie Jones’s back is turned. “He seems to disappear from training every now and again to go to the toilet,” adds Brown, whose duties at full-back include keeping an eye on his wandering wing. “Eddie turns around and says: ‘Where the hell has Jonny gone?’ Then he trots back in like nothing’s going on.
“The best way to describe him is to say he’s like a puppy; really enthusiastic, bounding around. You have to keep him on a tight leash sometimes and give him direction – well that’s what I end up doing anyway. I don’t think he knows what’s going on half the time. Who knows what’s going on in his head? He’s an interesting character, one I’ll probably never experience again but it’s great to be playing a sport with so many different types of people. Jonny can be frustrating at times but he’s a good bloke to have around and he scores tries other guys can’t.”
Youngs also reckons England’s tight forwards will forgive the 26-year-old if he sticks to what he does best: “Scrummaging is not his forte but give him the ball on the edge of the pitch and he’ll finish for you. Jonny’s such a gifted athlete and the ground he can cover in such a short space of time is incredible. You don’t want him to overthink things too much – just give him the ball and let him do his thing.”
This autumn May has scored tries against South Africa and Argentina, extending his Test record to eight tries in 21 appearances having missed the summer tour following knee surgery.
Despite having to reshuffle their back three again following Elliot Daly’s red card and suspension, England are determined not to allow themselves to become distracted.
“The only danger for us is allowing complacency to set in,” Brown said. “We talk about it as a team all the time. I don’t believe this side would ever let that creep in because of the squad we have and how desperate we are to achieve things. If we felt something like that was creeping in for an individual or as a group, I think the senior players would squash it pretty quickly.”
Equalling England’s record for successive Test wins would be no small achievement, as would staying unbeaten for an entire calendar year, but Brown insists that is not the squad’s primary motivation. “We just want to win every game. As a sportsman you are very narrow-minded. The coaching staff look at the future; we are just focused on the next job, which happens to be Australia.
“I guess at the end of your career there are things you’ll look at like grand slams or winning streaks but our main goals are to be the No1 team in the world and to win the World Cup. When we’ve done that we can start talking about things. Winning streaks don’t really mean much until you’ve won a World Cup and you’re the No1 side in the world.”
