Jonny May says he is driven by the fear of failure as England seek their second victory of the World Cup against Japan and take a major step towards the knockout stage. England ended a run of five defeats in six with a backs-to-the-wall victory against Argentina last Saturday despite Tom Curry’s early red card.
George Ford kicked all 27 points, including three drop goals, meaning England are still waiting for their first try of the tournament. Though they are widely expected to beat Japan, who have failed to kick on since reaching the quarter-finals when they hosted the tournament four years ago, May is wary of the threat they pose.
“Rugby is a cruel game and can catch you at any point,” he says. “You have to be on it the whole time and do everything you possibly can and even when you do all that, rugby can sometimes punish you anyway.
“I live with that bit of fear. I think the boys do as well but some are more reward-driven and they will want to get the win to feel the reward and get the fans behind them.
“I am probably more threat-driven. I am worried about things that can go wrong. Either way, rugby has to keep you on your toes the whole time and Japan are a dangerous team, they move and pass the ball more than anyone else in the world so we are going to have to be on it. We are going to have to be sharp.”
May lifted the lid on the toil the disappointing warm-up campaign had on the squad. They lost three of their four matches, including a first defeat by Fiji while Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola were shown red cards ensuring they were suspended for the start of the tournament.
“I dread to think how it would have been in camp if we had lost that game,” he says. “It has been a tough, tough four to six weeks. For all the hard work we have put in, to have things thrown at us, it has been testament to the team to stay tight and keep focusing on.
“It is very hard not to get distracted by outside noise and opinions. For belief to stay intact and to focus in and then to produce a performance is testament to everybody, not just the coaches and the players but the whole backroom staff and everybody here.
“That said, it is only one result and we went from zeroes to heroes in a week and we don’t want to slide back down to a zero.”
