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The two tries Jonny May scored against France last weekend saw him move into the top five on the all-time England list.
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May’s pair of touchdowns came during a disheartening Guinness Six Nations opener for Eddie Jones’ men, who trailed 24-0 prior to the Leicester wing’s intervention – ultimately losing 24-17.
Having overtaken Jason Robinson to go fifth in terms of England try scorers, May could continue to soar up that list if he maintains his form over the course of the championship.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the men who have registered the most tries in an England jersey.
Continue reading below…
WATCH: Goodey’s eating humble pie after talking up England’s chances of a Grand Slam and is admitting his concern ahead of the coming weekend and we look ahead to this year’s Calcutta Cup clash.
1. Rory Underwood – 49 tries
Underwood stands head and shoulders above his closest challengers, holding an 18-try cushion at the top of the all-time list. The former Leicester wing racked up his total in an 85-cap England career from 1984 to 1996. Underwood’s figures were boosted in 1989 by a five-try showing in a 58-23 victory over Fiji at Twickenham and he scored his last for England at the same venue against Wales in the 1996 Five Nations.
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=2. Will Greenwood – 31 tries
Greenwood won 55 caps and contributed key tries during England’s triumphant 2003 World Cup campaign. The centre scored the only try as his side beat South Africa to effectively secure top spot in their pool and was also the only Englishman to go over in the quarter-final win over Wales. Greenwood finished the tournament as England’s joint-leading try scorer, alongside Josh Lewsey, who also crossed the whitewash on five occasions.
=2. Ben Cohen – 31 tries
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Another man whose international career took in England’s crowning moment in Sydney, Cohen made a big impression on debut by scoring two tries against Ireland in the 2000 Six Nations. He scored his last try for England in a defeat to the All Blacks during the 2006 autumn internationals, which proved to be the wing’s final series with the national team.
4. Jeremy Guscott – 30 tries
Guscott’s England bow produced even more tries than Cohen’s, albeit against lesser opposition in Romania – a performance that earned him a late call-up to the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. The former Bath centre went on to make try-scoring contributions in six of his first seven England outings. A groin injury forced Guscott to retire from international rugby in 1999, although he scored two tries on his final appearance against Tonga at the World Cup.
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5. Jonny May – 29 tries
Having pulled within one try of Guscott and two of the second-placed pairing of Greenwood and Cohen, it seems likely that 53-cap May – who scored six tries in last season’s championship – will pick off the men ahead of him during the Six Nations. Unlike some of the others on this list, May had to be patient early in his England career, waiting eight Tests to open his account, but he heads to Murrayfield on Saturday with five tries from his past five matches.
6. Jason Robinson – 28 tries
The man ousted from the top five by May, Robinson can still cling to having scored one of the most memorable tries in English rugby history, crossing for his side’s only touchdown as they won the 2003 World Cup final. Robinson retired in 2005 but returned to add six more tries to his tally in 2007, finishing with 28 from 51 caps.
PA
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments