text: As a childhood friend of pop star Ed Sheeran it would be understandable if Jonny May felt like singing the blues with the memory of being dropped by England still painfully fresh in his mind. Just a couple of months after scoring a sensational first international try against New Zealand, May was axed for striking the wrong note by ignoring an overlap in England’s Six Nations win over Italy. He was told to go away and learn his lessons back at Gloucester. With a mother who taught Sheeran to play the guitar as a youngster, learning lessons has never been a problem for the 25-year-old May, who insists the best years of his rugby life are ahead of him. Jonny May will start on the wing for Gloucester at the Stoop on Friday but has lost his England starting place . He starts on the wing for Gloucester on Friday night, as David Humphreys’ men take on Edinburgh in the final of the European Challenge Cup in a bid to claim a first significant piece of silverware since winning the same competition in 2006. ‘Obviously when you get dropped it is not a nice thing but I’m trying to learn from it and turn it into a positive by becoming a better player,’ May said. ‘It’s part of what being a professional rugby player is. I’m not an old player but I’ve experienced it here, I’ve experienced bad games and made mistakes here and there. ‘There are times I’ve had bad games at Gloucester or injuries or setbacks or come across weaknesses in my game. I’ve reflected on it and come back a better player. ‘I’m 25 years old and feel like I’m still improving and progressing.’ May is comfortable in the limelight, unfazed by the big stage and even claims some responsibility for setting Sheeran on the way to global superstardom; his mum, Hazel, taught the teenager his first chords on a guitar. ‘Ed was in our network of friends, and he was into his classical music but my mum used to play guitar along with others in that circle,’ May said. ‘He saw my mum playing and wanted to learn so she taught him some chords and off he went.’ Gloucester wing Jonny May leaves the pitch injured during the first-half against Newcastle on Saturday . Gloucester's Billy Twelvetrees (centre) trains ahead of the European Challenge Cup final in London . The Hartpury College graduate admitted after his wonder try in the defeat to the All Blacks last November that he’d listened to Sheeran and Taylor Swift on his iPod in the build-up to the game. Hardly the conventional choice to get in the mood to play the world champions but convention is not something that unduly concerns May on or off the field. And despite the disappointment of losing his England place to Exeter’s Jack Nowell, May has no intention of becoming a conformist any time soon. ‘You can’t really be worried about messing up because that’s the last place you want to be as a player,’ he said. ‘You’ve just got to go out there and believe in what you see and do it straight away with no hesitation. It’s sport, you have bad games, get injuries and get dropped.’ Edinburgh trained at Murrayfield in Scotland ahead of facing Gloucester at the Stoop on Friday . Edinburgh will arrive at the Stoop confident of upsetting Gloucester but the Cherry and Whites are expected to have a vastly superior support with upwards of 6,000 fans expected to travel to west London on Friday night. The English side will have the added advantage of scrum-half Greig Laidlaw in their ranks — who signed from Edinburgh last season — while the addition of Wales hooker Richard Hibbard and former All Black prop John Afoa has added much-needed ballast to Gloucester’s pack. ‘To win this competition would provide the foundations to show we are up and coming and we want to improve and get better,’ May added. ‘It would give us a stepping board to progress. If we do want to be a team that is competitive in the Premiership and competitive in the upper tier of Europe I think we have the players, the fanbase and the club to be very competitive at the top of all leagues.’ Gloucester scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, in action for his current side, signed from Edinburgh last season .
target: Gloucester take on Edinburgh in European Challenge Cup final on Friday .
  Jonny May will start for the Premiership club at the Stoop .
  May hopes impressing against Edinburgh can help an England recall .