Jonny May put in his place after challenging Steve Borthwick in England camp
England head coach Steve Borthwick might well have retired from playing professional rugby almost ten years ago, but he has not lost an ounce of his competitive spirit, and Jonny May found that out the hard way recently.
In the latest episode of 02 Inside Line, some behind-the-scenes footage of a team meeting in Brighton was captured, where Borthwick called May up and said that he would dominate him in the air, adding “we all know that.” The former Leicester Tigers winger quickly replied “prove it,” although probably not expecting his coach to take him up on the offer.
The next scene showed the pair in the gym, ready to compete for a ball thrown up by head of physical performance Aled Walters. Borthwick proved to be a man of word as he put his 6ft 6in frame to good use to win the ball.
Take a look:
Despite the indignity of losing this battle, May was retained in the England squad this week for their camp in south-west London.
On the camps so far, Borthwick said: “I’m pleased with the progress that’s been made over the last two weeks and we look forward to another productive training camp at the Lensbury.
“There’s still a long way to go until we are ready for a World Cup, but each day we take another step forward.”
England 36-player training squad:
Forwards (19)
Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
Zach Mercer (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)
Tom Pearson (London Irish)
Val Rapava-Ruskin (Gloucester Rugby)
David Ribbans (Northampton Saints)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
Backs (17)
Henry Arundell (London Irish)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Guy Porter (Leicester Tigers)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
Anthony Watson (Leicester Tigers)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
