Iain Robert Balshaw, MBE (born 18 April 1979) is an English former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or at full back for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, Leeds Carnegie,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

. He won 35 international caps for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between 2000 and 2008, and three for the British & Irish Lions in 2001. He was a member of the England squad that won the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

Early life

Born 18 April 1979 in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, England, Balshaw was educated at the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.

Club career

Bath

At junior level he played for Preston Grasshoppers and joined

as a teenager in 1997. He made his senior debut in 1998, scoring thirteen tries in his first season.

Leeds Carnegie

After Balshaw's move to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

in July 2004, his game at club level flourished. Balshaw was out of action for the beginning of the season with a groin injury, but after three months of work with the Leeds medical staff he was back to fitness. He made his debut off the bench in the Tykes first home win of the season against

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

. Balshaw's first start came away against

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

in the European Challenge Cup and he has featured in the starting line up for the Tykes subsequent games. After a run of five impressive starts Balshaw was rewarded with the captaincy for the

Powergen Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

semi-final game against

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

, and this performance saw him gain a recall to the England squad. He started the final itself, but he limped off injured early on in the game as his teammates went on to win the trophy.

Gloucester Rugby

Following Leeds Carnegie's relegation from the Guinness Premiership, in April 2006 Balshaw joined

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was formed in 1873 and since 1891 has played its home matches ...

. He made his debut against his old club

after making 106 Premiership appearances for Bath and Leeds scoring 38 tries.

Biarritz Olympique

Balshaw moved to

in 2009, as part of a large exodus of English players to the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. On 11 July 2014, Balshaw announced his retirement from rugby with immediate effect after failing to recover from his knee injuries.

International career

Balshaw was picked on the replacements’ bench for every one of Englands internationals in 2000. He won his first cap for

in 2000 at the inaugural

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

match against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, coming on as a substitute. In November 2000, he came on late in the England-

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

autumn International at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

to give

Dan Luger Daniel Darko Luger MBE (born 11 January 1975) is a former English rugby union international who was a member of the squad that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Rugby career Club career Dan Luger was born in Chiswick and is the son of a Croa ...

a last minute winning try. In the following 2001 Six Nations he finally made the starting line-up for England at full back and stunned the Welsh in the opening game at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

; England winning 44–15. He toured Australia with the British & Irish Lions in June 2001, winning three test caps as a replacement. The 2002/2003 season saw him as a member of the England squad for the tour of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

, before joining the party for

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada national rugby union team, Canada, England Saxons, England, the United States national rugby union te ...

matches in North America. He scored two tries in a 'non-cap' international against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in Tokyo in June 2002, having recovered from shoulder surgery that restricted him to nine games in the previous eleven months for

. Problems with injury meant that his subsequent international appearances were few, despite criticism

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach (sport), coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 Britis ...

retained faith in his ability and selected him in the 2003 World Cup squad. Balshaw played in the warm-up match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and impressed in England's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

game against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, when he caught a diagonal kick from Jonny Wilkinson to score a crucial try in the 70th minute. He was one of 19 England players who played during the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

win over

in Sydney, coming on as a replacement in extra time. In the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand he was selected ahead of Kevin Morgan and

Mark Cueto Mark John Cueto (born 26 December 1979 in Workington, Cumbria) is a former English international rugby union player. He played on the wing for Sale Sharks and England. He is currently the third leading try scorer in the Aviva Premiership. O ...

, but later ruled out with a torn thigh muscle. Balshaw was selected for England in both Tests in Australia in June 2006. He was also chosen in the first two Autumn Internationals in 2006. He played against

and then against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

where he scored an individual try. He was England's first choice Fullback during the 2008 Six Nations Championship but received a lot of criticism from rugby pundits including George Hook. When Martin Johnson announced his first England squads in July 2008 following his appointment as manager, Balshaw was omitted from both the Elite and

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

selections.

Personal life

Balshaw is married to Kate and they have three children. Balshaw was involved with www.rugbypigs.com, a rugby fanzine website.

Honours

* Powergen Cup/Anglo-Welsh Cup titles: 1 **2005 Amlin Trophy Championship Winner 2012 *

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

Winner

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

Profile
Gloucester Rugby

Leeds Carnegie
England RugbySporting HeroesLeeds Tykes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balshaw, Iain 1979 births Living people Barbarian F.C. players Bath Rugby players Biarritz Olympique players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England England international rugby union players English rugby union players English expatriate rugby union players in France Gloucester Rugby players Leeds Tykes players Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Stonyhurst College Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Blackburn Rugby union wings 2003 Rugby World Cup players