Jonny May offers insight into how Eddie Jones has transformed England after making try-scoring return from injury

The wing returned from a hamstring injury to score in the 30-6 record defeat of Australia

(Getty)

After returning to international rugby with a try-scoring performance on Saturday, Jonny May offered an insight into how head coach Eddie Jones has transformed the England side that was unceremoniously dumped out of the Rugby World Cup two years ago earlier than any other tournament host.

Since picking up the role from Stuart Lancaster, Jones has overseen two successive Six Nations titles, one Grand Slam, 100 per cent records on the tours or Australia and Argentina and a world record-equalling run of 18 consecutive victories.

Now, he can add England’s record victory over the Wallabies, the nation of his birth and the side that he used to coach himself, thanks to Saturday’s 30-6 win.

During Jones’ reign, May has come in and out of the side, losing his place last season as Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell forced their way into the first team. But a move from Gloucester to Leicester Tigers has rejuvenated the wing, and after being forced to sit out the win over Argentina last week with a minor hamstring injury, May returned in style with a strong performance against Australia.

“A couple of things didn’t go my way in the first half, caught on the wrong side, a penalty here, maybe a couple of mistakes,” May said. “I didn’t think I was going to get an opportunity today but I just worked hard on my kick chase, and scramble defence and stuff like that, and luckily I got a couple of opportunities at the end.”

May raced onto a Danny Care kick into the Australian 22 before fending off Bernard Foley, Ben McCalman and Kurtley Beale to score England’s third try that effectively killed off any chance of the Wallabies taking something from the match.

“It was a nice moment for me, we like to work hard and stay on script and keep doing the right things, and have faith it’s going to come good at the end, and it did,” May added. “It’s a nice reward for a hard day’s work out there. It was tough conditions out there. It was a reward for me and the team.”

May believes the change in training schedule meant that England were at their fittest to face Australia (Getty)

The team performance was a noticeable improvement on the display against Argentina, a showing that Jones took the blame for. The Australian felt that the preparations leading up to the game were not quite right, leading to a laboured display from his side, and as a result the entire week was changed up to try and bring the players into the Test in the best physical condition possible.

Upon taking the job two years ago, Jones claimed that he made the squad “30 per cent fitter” in the space of a few weeks, and May offered an insight into how he goes about his plans to shape up the squad and transform them into a side that can challenge the No 1 ranked team in the world, New Zealand.

“We have two different types of week; four day week or Monday, Wednesday, Friday with two days off, and each day a little harder. Argentina was training Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday,” explained May.

“So we had the three day week this week, which means we did a little bit more on the Monday, recovery day Tuesday, we work extra hard on a Wednesday for that extra day off; down day Thursday and we have a fast session on Fridays. So it’s not really a team run, it’s actually a proper session.

“We warm up, do a few explosive things, a few sprints. It’s a good session; it’s not fatiguing and it gets you fired up almost for the next day. You’re always tired after Wednesday, but the way we recover here, and the way the Friday session works, we’re the fitter team on the day.

“The other thing to say on that is I think when you come into camp, you get a shock. Like I tweaked my hamstring; it’s a step up from what you do at club. We’re expected to train hard and fast and accurately every single day. The first week or two it can drain you a little bit, you can feel tired but you adapt by the second or third week. And you start to feel the benefits of training that little bit harder, and I think that’s where we were at today.”