Rugby World Cup 2015: Why Jonny May Will Be England's X Factor

England finished the last World Cup with Chris Ashton and Mark Cueto as their first-choice wings.

It was a fair bet that, given the wreckage of that adventure under Martin Johnson, there would be wholesale changes to the setup.

The team manager was one of the first casualties, replaced in an interim capacity for the start of the 2012 Six Nations by Stuart Lancaster, who set about securing the job permanently and overhauling the playing staff to boot.

The wide men of the Johnson era were perhaps not immediately on Lancaster’s chopping list.

But the tries from out wide then started to run dry.

Ashton played throughout 2012, scoring only once, in that famous win over the All Blacks, and amassed another eight caps the following year with just two tries.

But 2014 saw him make just two appearances for England as his try-scoring form disappeared and defence became an issue, per former England wing Rory Underwood’s damning assessment in the Express.

Cueto was bringing the curtain down on his own England career on a more voluntary basis than Ashton, and the options out wide were starting to look thin. Northampton full-back Ben Foden and fellow No. 15 Mike Brown then appeared regularly in Cueto’s old No. 11 berth.

But Lancaster made the significant step of throwing in two rookies for the start of the 2014 Six Nations.

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Jack Nowell and Jonny May were handed their chances after impressing for clubs Exeter and Gloucester, respectively. They injected pace and invention into the side, and as their experience grew, so too did their understanding of the game at international level.

A year later, with Nowell injured, another player fresh on the scene was Bath’s Anthony Watson, who immediately started scoring tries and looking a genuine world-class prospect.

Watson’s displays since making his debut have all but cemented him as Lancaster’s preferred choice on the right wing as we head into the World Cup, but May has had more work to do to convince his coaches that he should be the man to occupy the other wing.

He was dropped in the recent Six Nations as his supply of tries failed to materialize, but reports of star showings during England’s summer training camp and now his displays during the World Cup warm-ups suggest he appears to have cracked the code for success at Test level.

When asked to name the player who had impressed him most over the summer training regime, Lancaster picked the Cherry and Whites man, per the Guardian:

"

He has been the standout performer so far, probably in the whole squad really. He has been excellent and has really got the bit between his teeth. It sometimes happens, when a player gets dropped from an international team. They can feel sorry for themselves or turn round and say: ‘Right, I’m going to work harder at my game.’ He’s definitely done that.

"

It’s a fast turnaround from the demotion he suffered earlier this year, so how has he done it?

Straightening up

His early matches saw him labeled as something of a sideways runner, too willing to crab across the field, as the Mirror’s Alex Spink wrote:

"He is transformed from a player whose early displays were hallmarked by lateral runs rather than locking onto the try line like a heat-seeking missile, as he does now."

And he was also previously accused of lacking that killer finishing instinct, as evidenced by the try he bombed against Ireland at Twickenham in 2014.

The score he put past Tommy Bowe on Saturday and the second that was unluckily chalked off for a forward pass suggest he has sharpened up in that department too.

Searing pace

In the autumn of last year, May showed the world what he could do.

Confirming the old maxim that there really is no substitute for pace, he showed the All Blacks back line the ball, then skated around them on the outside to score one of the great Twickenham tries.

He is coached at his club by former Olympic sprinter Marlon Devonish, per the Mirror, who helps keep his top speed. Devonish has also seen the change in his mental attitude.

"

He’s found his feet, he looks settled, you can see that now he feels he belongs, said Devonish, who won Olympic sprint relay gold in 2004 and retired as Britain’s most decorated athlete. He’s got a winners’ mentality. Without doubt he can be a key weapon for England in this tournament.

"

And May has also highlighted the help Devonish has given him, per Sky Sports.

All round game

May was given nine out of 10 by the Telegraph’s Steve James for his display against Ireland, who wrote that May “really has gone away and worked hard at his game. Now looks top-notch at this level in all respects.”

And that assessment was backed up by England hooker Tom Youngs, who went so far as to bestow the X-factor label on his colleague, per Sky Sports:

"He did some freakish stuff against Ireland, stepping people and going through them. Only Jonny can do that. He can produce something out of nothing, there is that X-factor about him."

Having been given the chance to redeem himself this summer, May seems to have taken it with both hands. He has shown his coaches he can do what they require of him in defence and for the team, but when given a glimmer of a chance, he can also take teams apart on his own.

It would be a bold move to drop him now.