Jonny May creates Bath’s Premiership final team talk with bold prediction that leaves Northampton Saints great ‘nervous’
Jonny May alongside former Northampton Saint Tom Wood.
Former England wing Jonny May has once again put his neck on the line by delving into the much-anticipated Premiership final between Northampton Saints and Bath.
The top two sides during the regular season will go head-to-head in the showpiece event at Twickenham on Saturday after emerging victorious in their respective last-four contests.
Northampton overcame Saracens 22-20 while the West Country outfit defeated Sale Sharks 31-23 a day later to book their spots in the final.
It is expected that the clash on Saturday will be an even better spectacle than the two Premiership semi-finals, but May is not quite so sure it will be that close.
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The ex-Red Rose star, whose Gloucester career ended following the conclusion of their campaign, believes that Phil Dowson’s men will be far too strong for Bath.
“I reckon Saints are going to win well,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
That drew an immediate response from Northampton legend Tom Wood – a special guest on the show – who smiled and said: “That makes me nervous.”
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May then went on to explain the reasoning behind his confidence and why he thought Northampton would have too much class for their opponents.
“I think it’s 10-plus. They’re just better, they’re very, very good, that’s just my gut,” he added.
“It’s very tough to pick a point to focus your attention on because they’re a threat both sides of the ruck with great backs, and then there’s Mitch (Alex Mitchell) as well.
“He’s very, very good as well. There are not many teams that have that sort of threat around the base.
“Where do you focus your attention? They’ve got a deadly back three, Fin (Smith) taking the ball to the line with options at the line, and then Mitch at the base of the ruck as well just causing nightmares.
“They’ve been the toughest team to play against this season and the best team with ball in hand.
“Their defence is pretty good as well. It just sounds like everything is going pretty well, it sounds like everything has been purposefully thought through. Everything is aligned, from the coaches to the players.”
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Tom Wood on Saints
Northampton have been one of the most exciting sides to watch in the Premiership in recent years, but they have often lacked that steely edge to be genuine title challengers.
That has changed this season, however, with the basics, from set-piece to defence, much improved as they have finally managed to complement the attacking game.
“I would say defence is the improvement. Sam Vesty’s been there a good few years now and that attack has taken time to really bed in. There’s been real consistency with that,” ex-Saints back-row Wood said.
“The attacking flair and talent they’ve got in that group, they look absolutely lethal with ball in hand… but that’s been ever-present for two or three years. It probably started with (former director of rugby) Chris Boyd and it’s continued on.”
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