Six Nations: hat-trick hero Jonny May leaves England teammate 'fuming'

May touched down after only 65 seconds in England's rout of France

England's Jonny May celebrates scoring their third try to complete his hat-trick with Chris Ashton Action. Reuters

Jonny May may be the toast of the England locker room after his hat-trick of tries in the 44-8 rout of France, but the flying winger joked one teammate was left "fuming" at his Twickenham heroics.

Chris Ashton was picked on the right wing due to Eddie Jones' belief he would poach an early try, but it was May who registered the first score against Les Bleus after just 65 seconds.  The Leicester Tigers flyer then showed dazzling footwork from a standing start to outfox wing Damian Penaud for his second before grounding an Ashton kick through for his third all inside the opening 30 minutes.

"It's a funny game, it could just have easily been Chris scoring three today. He said he's fuming!" said May, who became the first England player to score a Six Nations hat-trick since Jonathan Joseph against Scotland in March 2017.

"It is just the way the game goes - sometimes the play could have been on the other side of the pitch and he would have been scoring the tries."

May, 28, is becoming a superstar of the game after amassing 12 tries in as many Tests and now sits sixth in the table of England's leading scorers on 25.

"I'm constantly looking at ways to get better and always working hard on my game. I feel like I have been gradually improving, hopefully for a long period of time.

"I am not the type of guy to get ahead of myself. I have been working on my kicking game and my high ball and my all-round game. I am a student of the game.

"I was lucky to get on the end of some really good team play. My job is to put the ball down over the line.

"That's probably the easiest job when the guys inside me are doing a brilliant job.

"One day I'll look back and be really proud of what I have done, but I haven't got the time to do that at the moment.

"This team appreciates the selfless work and that's what I want to build my game on is the things like kick-chase and defence. Then if you are lucky then you get on the end of some tries."

The quest to relieve Ireland of their Six Nations crown gathered momentum with another standout win just a week after Joe Schmidt's men were conclusively dispatched 32-20 in Dublin.

Sunday's victory over the French has set up a seismic title showdown with unbeaten Wales in Cardiff on February 23 and England coach Jones is determined to prove to Wales counterpart Warren Gatland that his team can triumph in hostile territory when they head to the Principality Stadium.

Wales finished second in last year's championship, three places above England, with Gatland twisting the knife by declaring the two sides were "poles apart", after Jones' side continued to slump after the tournament.

"I remember the comments," Jones told reporters. "We weren't doing so well and [he said] the gap between us was massive, so let's see how big the gap is next Saturday."

Both teams have won their first two games, with Wales kick-starting the championship with a come-from-behind win in Paris before grinding out a 26-15 win over Italy in Rome on Saturday.

England top the standings ahead of Wales courtesy of two bonus points and with both teams chasing a Grand Slam, the match in Cardiff is being billed as a potential title decider.

"You go there and it is a tough game, they are a good side, [there is a] loud crowd but it has never been a fortress to me," added Jones, who has never lost to Wales since he was appointed England coach in 2015.