Injury removes Balshaw from England plans

England managed to plot a comfortable course through most of last season without much of a contribution from the attacking phenomenon known as Iain Balshaw: there were 23 tries and the best part of 200 points in five Six Nations matches, along with decisive wins against Australia and South Africa at Twickenham and a resourceful Test victory in Buenos Aires, but only 28 minutes of rugby from the Bath full-back.

However, Clive Woodward was hoping to see rather more of the blond bombshell in the coming weeks, what with the World Cup looming ever larger in the thoughts of the red rose fraternity and the premium on rugby genius at an all-time high.

Sadly, Woodward's plan to rehabilitate his quickest and most threatening deep runner at international level may spend the next three months – the months of the 2003 Six Nations – on the back-burner.

Balshaw was in London yesterday afternoon for a scan on his right shoulder, which gave way under the weight of a heavy, not to say dubious, double tackle during his club's tortuous Parker Pen Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Montauban at the weekend. If, as both Bath and England fear, he has sustained high-grade damage to the A/C joint, he will be lucky to play again before late April.

Balshaw's sense of frustration must be paralysingly acute. After being picked for the Grand Slam match in Dublin 15 months ago while so far out of form he was practically a passenger, he was one of those ordered to carry the can for the defeat. Worse, he found himself manning the barricades at Bath as the club fought a neurotic battle against relegation. Towards the end of the campaign, he damaged his ankle ligaments and elected to have an operation on his troublesome left shoulder while the going was good. Now, his right shoulder is in pieces, a mere seven games into his comeback.

Balshaw would almost certainly have played against the French at Twickenham on 15 February, with Jason Robinson shifting either to wing, his natural position, or outside centre, where Woodward insists he has a future. The likelihood now is that Robinson will remain at full-back, where he has promised much but achieved little. One possible beneficiary of Balshaw's misfortune is a rather more seasoned Bath back, Mike Catt, who made a try-scoring return to senior action against Montauban. Indeed, he and another Recreation Grounder, Mike Tindall, may find themselves squabbling over the same shirt.

One definite Six Nations absentee is Ben Hinshelwood, the much admired young Worcester centre who commandeered a place in Scotland's side during the autumn Test programme. Hinshelwood was captaining the promotion challengers against Otley, but lasted only a quarter of the game before breaking a leg.

There was better news from France, though, in so far as the home nations consider any positive news from the far side of the Channel to be good. Patrick Tabacco, the influential loose forward from Stade Français, has proved his fitness to the national selectors after a long bout of injury and has been drafted into the Six Nations squad as cover for Imanol Harinordoquy, who suffered thigh damage during Pau's Parker Pen Shield game with Ebbw Vale. Tabacco, one of the more elastic line-out specialists of the age, last played a Test against Fiji in November, 2001.

Toulouse, one of the obvious challengers for this season's French Championship, are very definitely in the bookmakers' thoughts on the Heineken Cup front, despite their lacklustre efforts at London Irish on Sunday. Blessed with a home quarter-final tie against Northampton, who have forgotten how to scrummage, Fabien Pelous and company have been quoted at 11-4 for the tournament, marginally ahead of the holders, Leicester, and the Irish hot-shots from Leinster, who are joint second favourites.

The draw for home status in the first leg of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-finals will be made at the Saracens training ground in Southgate tomorrow. The Londoners, who play their rugby at Watford, face Bath in the last four, with Wasps taking on Pontypridd.