Tom May (born 5 February 1979 in London, UK) is a former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. May enjoyed a nineteen-year career that incorporated spells at

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

, Toulon Rugby,

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

and

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seaso ...

.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 ...

in 1998, making his competitive debut in March 1999 against the

. May scored two tries as Newcastle beat Harlequin F.C. in the final of the 2001 Tetley's Bitter Cup. He also started in the 2004 final, as Newcastle defeated the Sale Sharks. May competed for the England Sevens team at the 2002

London Sevens The London Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held at Twickenham Stadium in London. It is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. London was added to the World Series for the first time in 2001. For many years the London Sevens was the ...

. 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 Lion ...

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 A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. May played in a defeat to the

. He won his debut

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against

. 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 Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

. 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, May turned down the offer to join

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