“I have a bet with Joe Shaw, which started in the summer, basically saying that I won’t cut my hair until after December 31,” revealed the London-born flyer, who starts at fullback this weekend against the Dragons.

“Shawsy thought I was so vain that I couldn’t resist getting a haircut until 2008, and if I hold out he has to pay for me to go wherever I want in Britain for the weekend. I reckon if I go to London I can absolutely take him to the cleaners!

“My last haircut was four days before my wedding in May, and to be fair the Missus has been giving me severe grief about having long hair. She’s actually going away for three months on a course after December though, so I have another 90 days to really go for the mullet if I want to keep growing past the original cut-off point.

“The year has started well for me with the dodgy barnet, so I’ve just decided I’m going to stick with it and it might be here until the end of the season if I keep scoring tries. The hair really annoys me, I hate it, but it seems to be a bit of a good luck charm at the moment!”

Having made the positional switch to fullback in the injury-enforced absence of Matthew Burke, May said: “Last weekend was the first time this season that I’d started at 15, but I’d had a couple of cameos there in the previous games and trained a lot there, so it wasn’t totally new to me.

“I’m not sure whether it’s permanent or not, but I’m happy to slot in wherever Fletch wants me if it’s for the good of the team. I always knew it was something he was looking at, because he’d put me there in training over the summer, but whether it’s just a cover role in the short term or whatever, we’ll just have to wait and see.

“I chatted to Burkey at length before the game last weekend about a few things to do with playing fullback, mainly positional stuff to be honest, and the tips he gave me stood me in great stead because he obviously knows the position inside out.”

With a storming performance at Kingsholm resulting in an 18-18 draw, May said: “We went in to the game with massive belief, put in a much better performance than the week before at Bath and we were all gutted in the end with the way the game ended by virtue of them scoring with the last play of the game to level the scores.

“Toby Flood was very upset in the changing rooms after the final whistle for missing a couple of drop goals, I was exactly the same after fluffing the try in the corner and if we’d taken those chances then we would have won. Thank God they missed the conversion at the end, that’s all I can say!”

Referring to the late effort which saw a certain try go begging, he added: “Starting my first match at fullback in front of The Shed at Gloucester was pretty daunting last weekend, but I was quite happy with my game apart from the massive howler near the end where I bombed a try by knocking the ball on.

“That was a one out of 100 chance which will hopefully never happen again.

“I saw a bit of space, chipped over the top and just assumed that I’d have 15 Gloucester blokes haring down behind me. The ball didn’t bounce as high as I thought it would, I rushed picking it up and knocked the ball on. I looked at the ball, swore at it, then looked up and realised there were no Gloucester players within 25 yards of me.

“In hindsight I could have just let the ball trickle over the line and leant on it to score. I can’t even use the excuse that the Gloucester lads were chasing me, because as the video showed they had just totally given up on it, so there’s nothing you can do in that situation other than apologise to the boys for making a mistake. It’s now been erased from the memory bank though, and it’s all positive looking ahead to Saturday.”

With an old mate returning in unfamiliar colours as Colin Charvis captains the Dragons side, May said of his former team mate: “They obviously have Charv back captaining their side, and they also have a number of other big players so we’ll have to watch out and treat them with a lot of respect.

“I’m glad we’re playing on an evening because I think that always generates a great atmosphere from the crowd, and we’re all looking forward to it.

“I would imagine Charv has a few things up his sleeve for the game, and as well as his rugby gear I’m sure he’s also got some kit in his bag for a night out in Newcastle after the final whistle!

“In all seriousness though Charv is a fantastic lad and a great competitor. He is one of the best defenders in the game and we’ll be keeping a constant eye out for where he is on the field for the full 80 minutes.”

With the Dragons having fought out a low-scoring 3-3 draw last weekend against London Wasps in the pool opener, May said: “As an outside back the prospect of a 3-3 draw is pretty much my worst nightmare because the ball never gets as far as fullback, but we have a lot of confidence at the moment and we can’t wait for the game to come along.

“With both opening games having ended up in a draw it’s totally wide open, and if we do well in our next two matches then we have a great chance of progressing through to the semi-finals. Saturday is an opportunity to start off down that road, and then Wasps away should provide a tremendous finish to the pool.”

Having tasted Cup glory himself in a career which has seen over 200 competitive appearances for the Falcons, May said: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have played in three Cup finals for Newcastle, two of which we won, so I know how lucky I am.

“Some guys go through a whole career not playing in such a showpiece game, but the hunger is still there for more and we now have a great opportunity to put ourselves in the mix for the knock-out stages.”

Seats for Saturday's game have already sold out, but South Terrace tickets are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60 or via the official club website.