Woodward plans the Balshaw ballet

13 April 2012

England gave weighty consideration to Iain Balshaw's next move yesterday amid increasing concern over the creative capacity of a three-quarter line running low on tries.

As manager Clive Woodward and his inner cabinet grappled with a few selection issues raised in the wake of Twickenham's longest drama, the principal character in the plot waited to discover whether he had done enough to justify a standing start as opposed to a sitting one among the substitutes.

After nine months on the bench, Balshaw could hardly have dropped much more of a hint of his readiness for a longer part against Argentina on Saturday than the clever chip-and-chase which finally unhinged the Wallabies in Saturday's dramatic 22-19 victory. His success left the England management juggling three contenders for one position - Balshaw, Austin Healey and Ben Cohen.

Juggling wings has become a Woodward speciality. Since his appointment three years ago, England have used no fewer than 19 pairs of them and the figure will rise to 20 at the weekend if Woodward reverts to his Australian plan of picking Cohen on the right, a ploy which had to be abandoned in the aftermath of his father's death last Tuesday.

The Pumas being unable to threaten their opponents with a wing anywhere near the high-class power of Joe Roff and Matt Burke, England may well decide that a different course demands a different horse. Cohen would be a sympathetic choice but international sport leaves no room for sentiment a nd t he broader picture has inevitably changed since last week.

Balshaw will take some leaving out, especially in the context of his country's difficulty in scoring tries against heavyweight opposition.

Six matches since the World Cup - against New Zealand, France, South Africa (three) and Australia - have yielded a grand total of three English tries, two from Dan Luger and one from a former captain who went with the World Cup, Phil de Glanville.

England failed to cross the line in three of those games and they might not have scored a try against Australia had Chris Latham's sinbinning a few moments earlier not left the Wallabies without a full back. Balshaw chipped behind them for Luger's winning touchdown and what may ultimately prove to be the defining moment in shifting the balance of power between the hemispheres.

Since winning the first of his five caps from the bench, as replacement at full back for his Bath colleague Matt Perry, Balshaw has been given a little more time with each promotion: 10 minutes against Ireland, 17 against France, 19 against Italy, 27 against Scotland and 45 last Saturday, including stoppage time.

The 21-year-old from Blackburn was the Premiership's leading tryscorer last season with 13 and would almost certainly have made a full appearance in South Africa in June had he not spent the summer recovering from a groin operation.

First capped at 20, he made his Premiership debut for Bath against Bristol at 18 in October 1997, only months after leaving Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.

Bath's head coach Jon Callard said: 'One of our northern scouts recommended him to us. I'll always remember his words: "You've got to watch this guy. He can do every-thing". We played Iain in a second-team match and he struck me as something special, not because of his mazy running but because of one front-on tackle which stopped the ball-carrier in his tracks. He's a great impact player, as he showed on Saturday.'

In making a full appearance, Balshaw will be taking a well-trodden path as the 15th English wing chosen by Woodward, the others being David Rees, Adedayo Adebayo, John Bentley, Healey, Mike Catt, Spencer Brown, Tim Stimpson, Tom Beim, Paul Sampson, Luger, Tony Underwood, Steve Hanley, Nick Beal and Cohen.

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Woodward plans the Balshaw ballet

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