Even in the now-faded afterglow of victory at RWC 2003, most nostalgic (English) rugby fans look back at 2001 as the best of times to be an England supporter.
Who knows what might have been had at not been for Foot & Mouth, but the record books show that when the game against Ireland was eventually played, Ireland won 20-14 and England had failed to deliver a Grand Slam at the last hurdle for the third successive year.
The results from the unfettered fixtures tell part of the story:
3rd February 2001: Wales 15 – 44 England
17th February 2001: England 80 – 23 Italy
3rd March 2001: England 43 – 3 Scotland
7th April 2001: England 48 – 19 France
The memories that fill in the gaps still send a tingle of just-remembered excitement down the spine – telling of a game plan balanced between forwards and backs, scintillating moves, the ball moving at speed and Balshaw majestic on the outside arc.
Common wisdom has it that that majestic Balshaw never returned home from Graham Henry’s 2001 Lions. Other opinion has it that his confidence went in a heavy tackle in the Premiership Grand Final between Leicester and Bath in May 2001 and he has never been the same since.
Balshaw is not the only one whose reputation relies on those vintage performances of 2001. Indeed, no less than Brian Ashton trades on the very same. Most of the clamour for his installation mid-Andy Robinson apocalypse, from this author included, harked back to the performances from the backs under the influence of his coaching.
However, let’s consider the evidence in the past seven years. Though Gloucester fans may disagree, Balshaw, undoubtedly talented as he is, has managed to offer only glimpses of his previous free-running majesty.
Ashton, possibly under the burden of head coach, has failed to instill any sort of convincing back play let alone anything consistently dangerous, open, fast and free-running.
It is certainly this author’s opinion that the performances of the backs in the first half of 2oo1 were largely down to the influence of Mike Catt at 12 and Will Greenwood at 13 and, most importantly, to those two in that order. Indeed, Will Greenwood played most of the rest of his career inside or outside Mike Tindall and Mike Catt did not return before RWC 2003.
As a result, it’s no surprise that even in their winning RWC 2003 form, England have never recaptured the thrilling back play of that heady year.
Greenwood has never lacked praise from those in the know and Catt had his fair share of adulation (when the crowd was in his favour), but it seems that both Ashton and Balshaw owe their fading reputations to that particular combination in 2001. I might seem like a Balshaw basher but, believe me, no-one more than me would like to proven wrong over that.
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2 Comments
March 12, 2008 at 10:26 am
[...] How have we got into this situation? How has Ashton, the great hope for attacking back play, come to this? (why indeed…) [...]
April 4, 2008 at 9:45 am
[...] There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s not the man for the top job. I’ve also had my doubts over Ashton’s reputation anyway. Nevertheless, having requested a manager to deal with the [...]