England wing Henry Arundell will be a “dangerous” opponent for any team with the confidence gained from his five-try haul against Chile, says Jonny May.

As well as putting England on the brink of the quarter-finals, Arundell’s tally equalled the England record for the most tries scored in a single match.

“What Henry’s got is his X-factor,” said May. “The world’s at his feet.”

May and Elliot Daly started on the wings for England’s opening two pool victories against Argentina and Japan, with Arundell and Max Malins then selected in those positions for the Chile game.

Arundell, who will play for French club Racing 92 after the World Cup, is the leading try-scorer at the tournament despite only appearing in one match to date.

“Regardless of who you’re playing, that [scoring five tries in a match] doesn’t happen very often,” continued Gloucester’s May, 33.

“It was a special day for him and his family and I’ve got a feeling he’ll have lots of special days ahead of him.

“Everyone around him needs to learn from him, support him and help develop him. He’s an important part of this team and we need to get him firing.

“Henry’s an important player for us and he is only going to get better. I’m learning from him as well.

“He will have some confidence now for the rest of the tournament. He’s dangerous when he has got that confidence.”

Arundell and May will be vying for selection when England complete the pool stage against Samoa on 7 October, with the quarter-finals taking place during the weekend of 14-15 October.

Knockout games ‘about making the least mistakes’

May added that Arundell will learn that not every match will lend itself to his attacking strengths, citing footballer Erling Haaland’s contribution to Manchester City’s Champions League final win in June as an example to follow.

“You want to be having your influence in attack, scoring tries and having those moments, but equally the most important games, the hardest games, aren’t like that,” he said.

“It’s like the Champions League final and you watched Haaland play. It wasn’t a game about scoring lots of goals.

“Those Test matches in knockout games are not about scoring lots of tries, it’s about making the least mistakes, a game of chess. It could also come down to a moment of magic.

“I don’t want to sound patronising because we play in the same position and I have a lot of respect for Henry as a colleague, but it’s about learning those experiences and developing through those type of games.

“He’s probably had a couple of games where he’s been scratching his head at half-time thinking ‘this isn’t what I had planned’. Sometimes that’s just how it goes – it’s more about not making a mistake and just simmering.”