A Day with: Former England winger Tom May

Matt Jones - Editor 11:24 10/03/2016
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  • Tom May.

    They always say that for ex-professional athletes it’s hard letting go, but for former England, Newcastle Falcons and Toulon winger Tom May, he was told to stay in rugby union when he hung up his boots.

    A 16-year career was only brought to an end last year by the 37-year-old, who called it a day with London Welsh, having represented his country at full international, A and sevens level.

    May has stuck to what he knows best, rugby, setting up his own company, Everything4Rugby, who work alongside grassroots clubs, players and supporters to assist and develop amateur rugby throughout the UK.

    May works alongside former All Blacks prop Carl Hayman and, together with ex-England winger Mark Cueto, they will be coming out to Dubai to put on a three-day kids rugby camp at the end of this month.

    May came out for a flying visit this week to get a feel for the Emirates and Sport360 caught up with him.

    You enjoyed a distinguished professional career and since retiring, you’ve stayed in the sport. Tell us about your company, Everything4Rugby?

    One thing I was advised to do by Steve Black, who coached the British & Irish Lions and Newcastle Falcons when I was there, was to stick with what you know when you finish playing. To be able  to give back to rugby that’s given so much to me during my career is brilliant.

    We’ve developed a business that essentially tries to develop rugby on and off the field in the UK and beyond. One arm of it is that we look after camps but we look after all the things clubs need to survive on a daily basis, whether it’s gas or playing equipment. It’s taken six years of hard work and we do that for 2,000 plus clubs in the UK.

    You’ve been out in the UAE this month ahead of bringing an E4R kids training camp to Dubai later this month. What are your early impressions of the sport in the UAE?

    It’s been so nice to get out and see so much rugby being played across the UAE and how many kids play. It’s not one of the first things that comes to your mind when you think about the UAE but it’s fantastic to see so many kids playing. I ended up playing a touch tournament out here, the Zurich Corporate Touch 6s, for Continental.

    I pretty much got off the plane and went to the tournament, and there were French guys, a Welsh guy, one from Zimbabwe, one for the Philippines and a few Emiratis. It was so good to see a form of rugby been played. I also saw an Under-7 tag tournament too. To see the standard out here was great. The coaches were keen and that was reflected in the way they were playing. I’ve been to Dubai College and Jumeirah College too and to Arabian Knights too. I’ve been busy and pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the sport here.

    You went to the Dubai Sevens for the first time in 2015. How was that?

    December was my first time going and there’s 2,000 teams playing. You realise how much rugby comes from the UAE. It’s not just teams flying in, it’s teams based here so it’s great to see.

    I said I was surprised a bit by how popular the sport is here, but when you realise how big the sevens is, it doesn’t take much to realise there’ll be a bit of a follow-up to it throughout the year.

    You won two England caps and they have a pretty important game coming up this weekend. How do you think the Six Nat-ions clash with Wales will go?

    I think if they can stop Wales getting on the front foot, which will be tough, England might win. They have to stop them doing that though and Billy Vunipola has a big job up front.

    Wales are the less affected team since the Rugby World Cup so it will be a tough test. I’ll be there at Twickenham so I’m looking forward to watching that.

    Leicester Tigers’ Manu Tuilagi is back in the set-up after injury. How do you think Eddie Jones will use him?

    I would avoid bringing Manu back in too early, as it would be disrespectful to the players who have been doing so well up to now.

    Having said that I’m sure Eddie Jones will have looked at the fact England had Sam Burgess in the centre against Wales in the World Cup and were doing perfectly well in the World Cup, they swapped him for George Ford and it all seemed to fall apart. He will look to address that situation.

    It’s pretty difficult to say you don’t need Tuilagi but maybe his spot might be on the bench. It will be interesting to see where they go. I would think they would put him in somewhere because he provides a headache.

    If England win they could go on and win the grand slam, whereas before the tournament they’d be happy with winning three games. A grand slam now would be a pretty decent effort.

    Wales have such talented players so are you surprised at how they’re struggling with any free-flowing rugby?

    I don’t think they’ll be hugely happy with the way they’re playing but at the same time they’re not in the worst position ever. They always raise it for England so I think it will be a tough day for both teams

    Will home advantage play much of a role?

    I think whoever deals with the occasion best will come out on top. England probably aren’t favourites but I don’t think anyone ever is when you come into this fixture.

    What was your career highlight?

    Apart from winning my England caps it would be winning cups with Newcastle [May scored two tries as the Falcons beat Harlequins 30-27 to win the 2001 Tetley’s Bitter Cup at Twickenham and was also in the Newcastle team that beat Sale 37-33 in the 2004 final].

    Who was the best player you played with?

    Sonny Bill Williams at Toulon. Such natural ability. At the time he was quite hard to play with because you never really knew what he was going to do, but he was brilliant.

    And the best you ever played against?

    Frank Bunce. I just remember him being pretty hard. I was a young guy at the time and just the thought of coming up against Frank Bunce was pretty terrifying.

    Who’s your favourite player to watch?

    Matt Giteau. He’s still a very good player when he’s on form. He runs the show for Toulon when fit.

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