Jonny May is England’s man of the moment. His hat-trick in the 44-8 Six Nations rout of France at Twickenham last Sunday maintained his extraordinary purple patch. In his last 13 Tests, the 28-year-old Leicester man has scored an impressive 12 tries. 

Here, Sportsmail speaks to people who have worked with him throughout his career, about his unique, often erratic, talent, his grubber kicking and the chicken demon…

Allan Lewis 

(Coached May at Hartpury College in Gloucester)

When Jonny came to us at 18, he had a lot of raw talent. He was big, quick, had the ability to handle the ball and in one final against Clifton he scored a hat-trick.

I remember one try he scored from halfway — he was very quick and deceiving. We never encouraged them to kick — so when I saw him put in that kick for Henry Slade against Ireland, I realised the work that had gone into it.

Jonny couldn’t kick left-footed when he was at Hartpury. People don’t realise the work that goes into being able to do that. It is like his ability under the high ball. We were never under that pressure at Hartpury, where the kicking was pinpoint and you had to go up for it. Invariably the kicking was long and you could counter-attack.

As a youngster, Jonny May (left) had raw pace but had to work hard on a number of skills

He wasn’t a beanpole or skinny back then, he was quite muscular, but obviously he’s put on weight now. He was always strong in defence and attack — he was a big, strong lad, quick and dynamic.

He had a weights and strength and conditioning programme to follow, which he did religiously, and also he spent a lot of time on skills.

Jonny was also quite a character. Sometimes he lacked a bit of concentration, but there were never any disciplinary problems — he was always a good student.

Bryan Redpath 

(Gloucester head coach when May started career in 2009)

When Jonny came through he was quick, had very good footwork and was very raw, but he had some great people to learn from at the club, like James Simpson-Daniel, Iain Balshaw, Lesley Vainikolo and Ollie Morgan.

We played him in three different positions; at full back and 13 too, not just on the wing. You just wanted him on that kick-return.

He could be erratic, but he could win you a game. You’d have to be on at him to be careful about when he did certain things, but then you’d watch him and think: ‘There aren’t many people who’ve got the footwork to do the things he can do’.

You can’t have your cake and eat it. I believed that what you got out of him would over-ride the mistakes he might make.

May suffered a dreadful knee injury but put everything into his rehabilitation

What he has done in the last few years, after coming back from his ACL injury — just shows his desire and his work ethic. Other people have also realised how to make use of Jonny’s pace.

They are kicking a lot in behind defences because he does chase lost causes. He can always beat defenders on the edge and he has also adapted his game to put in kicks of his own.

He is more mature now, but also he is under less pressure in a way because the coaches have stuck with him and he knows they trust him. Jonny is now managing to play a high-percentage game more consistently and is creating problems for other teams.

Stuart Lancaster 

(Ex-England head coach who gave May a Test debut in 2013)

There’s always been a slight misconception about Jonny. People assume he is not that diligent or prepared off the field, but it’s the opposite. He is quite a character and that would give the impression that he isn’t a student of the game, but he is.

He’s a fantastic athlete and puts a lot of time into realising his athletic potential, by working with sprint coaches and so on. Once he broke into the England team, he was very hard for other players to dislodge because of his consistency.

He was a bit unorthodox, but never a liability. He was good at the basics — a good defender, good in the air and good on kick-chase.

According to Stuart Lancaster, May’s basics are an underrated part of his overall game

His game understanding has improved. When I was England coach, he would spend hours with the backs coaches — Andy Farrell and Mike Catt — talking about the game and I assume he is the same now with John Mitchell, Eddie Jones and Scott Wisemantel.

He has developed his understanding of where space is in the back-field and his ability to exploit that space. He has also improved his ability in the air, which is down to a lot of hard work, but his form is also a by-product of how England are playing.

If wingers are involved in a team that has a lack of clarity, it can make them look worse than they are, but England have real clarity in how they are playing and Jonny has benefited from that.

Paul Gustard 

(Ex-England defence coach)

Jonny is very dedicated and has actually got faster after recovering from a horrendous knee injury.

He is frighteningly quick — as well as being delightfully weird, in the nicest possible sense! He’s a really good guy. I have a lot of time for him.

He is an athlete in the truest sense of the word — he devotes a lot of time to the management of his own body. He took care to strengthen the area around his knee after the injury. He also takes a lot of time stretching. Of course he has pace to burn, but he’s also tenacious and very dedicated.

Paul Gustard (left) describes May as being ‘delightfully weird, in the nicest possible sense’

He has worked hard at his game defensively, his back-field cover and his alignment with his outside centre. With ball in hand sometimes he doesn’t know what he’s going to do but he can put the after- burners on and roast anybody.

When teams like France leave all that back-field space there is no-one better to exploit that.

I am delighted he has had the opportunities he has had. He was a very consistent performer when I was coaching England and is a wonderful kid. Weird, but wonderful!

Danny Care 

(England team-mate)

Jonny has become the complete player, when maybe before he was known as an absolute speedster. He has worked really hard on his kicking game, catching, chasing.

In the last year or so, after training, he takes himself away to practice little grubbers down the line on his own. He is a right-footer but you can’t tell which is his dominant foot because he practises it so much on his left as well.

He is incredibly diligent with his recovery. He is always stretching. He spends half an hour to an hour stretching, he always has his recovery gear on, is in the ice-baths, making sure he feels good after training or making sure he can perform the next day.

Danny Care (left) believes May has developed himself into a ‘complete player’ 

Jonny is — in the nicest possible way — very strange. A few years back, he used to think he was possessed by a chicken! 

He used to go around clucking and thought this chicken demon was inside him. I don’t know whether it was an act or true — with Jonny you just never know!

He is also very competitive. He loves winning. He wants to be the fastest and always checks to see if he has the fastest times when they give the GPS scores out after training. 

He has learned an awful lot by spending time with George Ford and Owen Farrell, so that he understands what a No 10 is looking for, and he is up there with the best wings in the world now.