England expect clean bill of health for New Zealand semi-final clash after positive Jonny May update

Bouncing around: England wing Jonny May is in high spirits after his two-try heroics despite a hamstring issue
AP
Will Macpherson21 October 2019

England hope to have a full complement of 31 players available to face New Zealand in Yokohama on Saturday, their first World Cup semi-final for 12 years.

Jonny May scored two tries in the win over Australia on Saturday but left the field late on with a hamstring injury.

Another wing, Jack Nowell, missed the game with his own hamstring injury - and has played just 11 minutes since June - but England believe he will be available for selection.

After easing into a week that head coach Eddie Jones believes is the ­toughest in the whole tournament, England will train in Tokyo on Tuesday.

If Nowell comes through that, Jones says he will be in contention.

In Pictures | England vs Australia, World Cup quarter-final | 19/10/19

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“We expect Jack to be fit for selection,” said scrum coach Neal Hatley on Monday, before the team left Beppu for the Japanese capital

“It’s fantastic where we are, all 31 being available for selection at the end of the week. [May] is bouncing around this morning.

"He has a small twinge and we’ll assess where he is a little bit later today. He’s in really good spirits, moving well.”

Meanwhile, Jones has warned his team not to make the same mistakes Ireland did against the All Blacks in their 46-14 defeat on Saturday.

“I think what happens is you become part of the show,” said Jones, when asked about the dangers of facing the world champions. “I thought that happened a bit [on Saturday]. Ireland really got stuck in when the game was lost.

"Against any of the best teams, you have to go hard from the start. That’s going to be important for us.”

Jones heaped praise on New Zealand, calling them the “greatest team that has ever been in sport”, and England received the seal of approval from an unlikely source in the All Blacks camp in return on Monday.

On England’s tour of New Zealand in 2014, Brodie Retallick was asked what he thought of the opposition players but could only come up with “Michael Laws” - a New Zealand TV personality and former mayor of Whanganui.

Retallick bristled today when reminded of that incident, before praising England.

“I made a mistake, called [Courtney Lawes] the wrong name, the name of a politician,” he said. “We know they are always physical, got a big pack, who are very mobile, carry well and have good skill sets.

"Their backs play a pretty expansive game; they attack with a lot of variations, too, so we are going to be have to be on our game.”

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