Tom May (born 5 February 1979 in London, UK) is a former rugby union player. May enjoyed a nineteen-year career that incorporated spells at Newcastle Falcons,

Toulon Rugby Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also known as RCT but usually Toulon; oc, Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they ...

, Northampton Saints and London Welsh.Profile - Tom May
ESPN Scrum May also won two caps for England, both in 2009. May was a utility back, his versatility enabling him to fill a number of positions behind the scrum. Since retiring, May's most notable media appearance has been on the rigbiz podcast, hosted by Clapham Falcon's fly half and london socialite, Archie Curzons. May also writes a regular column for scrum.com, and has also appeared as an analyst on BT Sport. May is also involved in the grassroots rugby website everything4rugby.com.

Biography

Born 5 February 1979 in London, UK, May joined the Newcastle Falcons from

Richmond F.C. Richmond Football Club is a rugby union club from Richmond, London. It is a founding member of the Rugby Football Union, and is one of the oldest football clubs (of any code). It fields teams in both men's and women's rugby; the men's first t ...

in 1998, making his competitive debut in March 1999 against the Northampton Saints. May scored two tries as Newcastle beat

Harlequin F.C. Harlequins (officially Harlequin Football Club) is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London. Foun ...

in the final of the 2001

Tetley's Bitter Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

. He also started in the 2004 final, as Newcastle defeated the

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

. May competed for the England Sevens team at the 2002 London Sevens. He was selected by

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lions ...

for the Senior tour of Argentina in 2002 and played in the fixture against Argentina A. On 19 May 2009, he was named in the England squad to play the Barbarians and Argentina. May played in a defeat to the Barbarians. He won his debut cap in a Test match against Argentina. May won his second cap in the return fixture at

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

. On 21 April 2009, May announced he would be leaving the Falcons to join Toulon. On 7 February 2011 it was announced that May would be returning to England's elite division by signing a contract with Northampton Saints, against whom May made his professional debut, for the 2011/12 season. Originally linked with a move to

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

, May turned down the offer to join London Welsh on a one-year contract for the 2013/14 season. On 9 January 2015, May announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2014/15 season. On 1 July 2020, May was announced as the new Head Coach of Semi-Professional Rugby Football Club Clapham Falcons. This announcement was delivered by the Clapham Falcons Captain Archie "The Magician" Curzon.

References

External links

Newcastle Falcons profileToulon profile

Opportunity finally knocks for Tom May
* ttp://www.rctoulon.com/en/rct/joueur/may/ Rugby Club Toulonnaise profile {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Tom 1979 births Living people English rugby union players RC Toulon players England international rugby union players People educated at Tonbridge School Alumni of Newcastle University Alumni of Northumbria University Expatriate rugby union players in France Newcastle Falcons players Northampton Saints players London Welsh RFC players English expatriate rugby union players English expatriate sportspeople in France Rugby union players from London