JONNY May will fulfil a boyhood dream on Saturday when he runs out at Twickenham wearing the red rose of England.
The flying Gloucester winger is set to retain his starting place in Stuart Lancaster's XV for the pivotal RBS 6 Nations clash with Ireland.
Forced off with a broken nose after just nine minutes of his Six Nations bow in Paris last month, May impressed in England's 20-0 thumping of Scotland at Murrayfield a week later.
But the Hartpury College graduate is most looking forward to getting his chance to shine at Rugby HQ, where he will look for a repeat of past Twickenham performances.
May announced himself to the rugby world back in 2009 when he scored a scintillating hat-trick as Hartpury claimed a 41-31 win over Clifton in the RFU Intermediate Cup final.
Nearly five years on from that first Twickenham memory, May will be desperate for more of the same against Ireland on Saturday.
May recalled: "Hartpury ended up playing twice at Twickenham in two finals within a week and won both.
"I've played there a few times and really enjoyed it but I've always felt that I'd want to play there in a full Test for England. It's a dream come true to think that might happen on Saturday.
"I wasn't too different back then – I remember I was playing outside centre and it was a really sunny day.
"The pitch was really nice and the style of rugby we played suited me very well. I have very fond memories of my time at Hartpury."
Having bounced back from his Paris nightmare to impress in Edinburgh, May is hopeful his and England's improvement can continue against the unbeaten Irish.
And despite the occasion being the biggest he will have ever tasted – with a sell-out 82,000 crowd expected in west London – May will treat it like any other game.
"Each game is getting bigger and bigger – that's the way the tournament is," May said.
"I can take a lot of confidence and belief from the way I've played the first two games. I've really enjoyed them and felt that I've been playing some of my best rugby as well.
"I like to think that I can be quite an unpredictable player. The key to that is just playing what I see in front of me and not thinking about things too much.
"When I'm at my best, I'm just reacting instinctively and that way it's harder for the opposition to defend. If the guy with the ball doesn't necessarily know what he's doing, they won't either.
"Ireland are athletic, physical and get very stuck into the breakdown, they're a tough outfit to play against and have a huge amount of experience and quality throughout their team.
"Jonny Sexton is a quality fly half who can take it to the line and make decisions really late because his body language is hard to read.
"As wingers we're going to have to be on our best form to try and anticipate his kicks. Then if he does pass it, we've got to be up in the line helping to defend as well."
