Iain Balshaw, Mike Tindall and Ben Cohen all made their England debuts on the same day back in February 2000 and the first two hold a unique place in rugby history as they were also housemates.
Making it to the international scene is hard enough as it is, but for three members of the same household to do so – fellow housemate Lee Mears was later capped – is extraordinary.
Balshaw’s memories of that Six Nations encounter, which England won 50-18, are of a blur and a rush of emotions as a 20-year-old debutant.
He said: “I’d left school and started playing for Bath when I was 18. Even going from school rugby to Bath was a huge shock to the system.
“It was something I had dreamt about doing since I was a young boy. To get the opportunity to play against Ireland in 2000, it was very difficult to actually explain how I felt, it’s such a plethora of emotions going through you.
“You’re very nervous, you’re really excited. The adrenaline is pumping through your body. Everything you do on the field or in the warm-up is twice as fast.
“As far as the game itself, I got on for about ten minutes and I can’t even remember what happened. I was just running around like a headless chicken trying to do something. I think I might have come on at full-back but I can’t even remember.
“What I do remember is I had a few friends playing in the England team from Bath, then you had Kevin Maggs who was starting for Ireland. I remember that night myself, Mike Tindall and Ben Cohen, every player in the room celebrated our first cap with a drink.
“Mike and I played at Bath, with Lee Mears, Steve Borthwick, we played Under-18s for England together as well. Tinds, Lee Mears and I shared a house together as well. We lived together for a while so it was pretty special to play that first game together.” ATTACKING ENGLAND Tindall was not the only player Balshaw had close ties to in the England team. His maths teacher at school was the mother of none other than Will Greenwood, who had made his debut three years earlier.
The pair were part of the dominant England side that won the NatWest 6 Nations title in both 2000 and 2001 under the leadership of Sir Clive Woodward.
For Balshaw it was that second season where England really started to click, and their 229 points and 29 tries remain the most of any team in a single season.
The full-back contributed five tries as England took the title including one incredible score against Italy.
And although they missed out on the Grand Slam with a defeat in Ireland, Balshaw believes the Red Rose were leading the way in the international game at the time.
He said: “I thought in 2001 we were by far the best attacking team in world rugby at the time. We lost in Ireland to Ireland but I thought we were playing sublime rugby.
“Clive had been building the team since 1997 and in 2001 there were a few new faces in the team but the majority of the squad, the nucleus of the squad, knew each other very well. In 2001 I thought we were a very, very good team, a very good attacking team.
“We could play up the guts with the forwards, we could play in close, we mixed our attack, we had a fantastic kicking game and it was a pleasure to play in that team.
“If you look at statistics and tries scored in that Six Nations we’re up there with the most tries scored.
“I know people say the game has evolved, of course it has, but it was a fantastic team to be involved in. I think in some ways we catapulted world rugby in terms of how to move the ball.”
POST WORLD CUP Injury kept Balshaw out of the 2003 Six Nations, when England finally got the Grand Slam, but he returned in time to make the victorious 2003 World Cup squad.
In all he played eight seasons in the Six Nations, making 22 appearances, and Balshaw admits there are plenty of lessons to be taken.
He added: “It’s amazing stuff, at the time you don’t think about it, you think about the next game.
“Through my career I had some ups and downs but now I’ve sat back and you can look back on the things you have done, I’m very proud to have achieved what we did and been in those teams.
“There’s also some regret in there, I think everyone has it. It’s all the things you could have done better. You could probably be more professional, practise a bit more, I got injured and I used to rush myself back from injury because I really wanted to play.
“In hindsight, I could have taken my time because it was the worst thing I could have done. It’s detrimental to how you play but you want to play well. I’d tell anyone who gets injured to take an extra week, or two weeks to make sure they are 100 percent.” FROM PLAYER TO SPECTATOR So how does Balshaw watch the games now? Still based in the south of France, where he finished his career in Biarritz, he enjoys trips back to England to watch his compatriots at Twickenham.
And having played alongside French greats like Dimitri Yachvili and Imanol Harinordoquy in the Basque Country, the Anglo-French rivalry has continued into retirement.
He added: “We’re on the chat, I see them most weeks (Yachvili and Harinordoquy) for a cup of coffee. Sometimes when England play France they are over doing TV and corporate work and likewise I’ve been to Paris so we’ll go and catch up.
“They all give you chat before the game but once it starts and we start winning, they go quiet or make excuses.”
Balshaw will not have to wait long for the next match-up between the two sides. England open their 2018 NatWest 6 Nations campaign in Paris against France on February 3.
