England in New Zealand 2014
Jonny May: 'We are not a rubbish team'
Tom Hamilton in Auckland
June 3, 2014
Jonny May is hoping to break his England duck on Saturday © Getty Images
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England winger Jonny May says his team have "nothing to lose" ahead of Saturday's Test against the All Blacks.

May, who played in all five of England's games during the Six Nations, is in line to start the first Test against New Zealand in what will be a depleted side. England are massive underdogs for Saturday's match and will be without a host of frontline players due to injury and unavailability.

They suffered a further blow on Tuesday as Billy Twelvetrees missed training and is now a major doubt for Saturday's game as his last competitive rugby came back on May 3 when he sustained an ankle injury while on club duty. But despite their depleted team, May is confident they have enough quality in their ranks to cause New Zealand some difficulties.

"We have got nothing to lose going out there but at the same time we have great players in our team," May said. "We are going forward as a team at the moment.

"We are not a rubbish team, we have good principles, we have good structures and everyone is buying into that. We are a tough outfit to play against for anyone, irrelevant of the new players because of the culture we have created as a team and the way we play. It is easy for players to jump in to it.

"We are underdogs for this game. People have written us off in a way but we put pressure on ourselves as a group, we want a performance and we will go out there and give it everything."

May is yet to score for England but revealed he has worked on his own game since the Six Nations and is adamant he will back himself to cross the tryline if given the opportunity on Saturday.

"I noticed a couple of times I could have backed myself a little bit more on the outside, I think that's a confidence thing, being involve in that for the first time. It was frustrating coming off the pitch thinking I could have gone for it then. It just wasn't quite there but I've learnt from it and I want to put it right."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
Tom Hamilton is the Associate Editor of ESPNscrum.

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