By Simon Austin

Iain Balshaw in full flight is one of the finest sights ever seen in an England rugby shirt.

Yet it is as long ago as 2001 that the full-back was at his pacy, elusive best for his country.

IAIN BALSHAW FACTFILE Born: Blackburn, 14/04/79 Debut: v Ireland, 2000 Caps: 27 Tries: 12 Clubs: Bath, Leeds, Gloucester

England played some of their finest-ever rugby during the first four matches of the 2001 Six Nations and Balshaw was one of the principal reasons.

He scored five tries in those games and his broken-field running thrilled crowds and drew comparisons with New Zealand's Christian Cullen.

However, he has been dogged by injury and lapses in form ever since and was frustrated again as he rarely showed his counter-attacking skills against the All Blacks on Sunday.

"I was disappointed that I couldn't get my hands on the ball a bit more," Balshaw, 27, told BBC Sport.

"It was frustrating but, then again, we were playing against the All Blacks and they've probably got the best chasers in the world. Every time they kicked the ball they had six or seven within five yards of you.

"You're playing against a world-class team, so I wasn't expecting to make loads of yards from the back.

"When we had the ball I wanted to get my hands on it and get in the game, and that didn't really happen.

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"We were obviously disappointed with the result against New Zealand but, having reviewed the video, we saw that we played some good stuff a lot of the time.

"It was probably the 10 minutes before half time that killed us. We really want to eradicate the errors because there were a lot of those last week and it cost us."

Balshaw was relieved to be in England's side to face New Zealand after playing just three matches for Gloucester so far this season because of injury.

He now describes himself as "happy and injury free", and his confidence has also been boosted by being reunited at international level with attack coach Brian Ashton.

Ashton discovered Balshaw when he was playing for Stonyhurst as a 16-year-old and later went on to coach him for both Bath and England.

Following a four-year absence, Ashton returned to the international set-up in May and it was no coincidence that Balshaw was quickly brought back into the England fold for the summer Tests against Australia.

Ashton is trying to recapture some of the attacking verve of 2001 and sees Balshaw's speed, reading of the game and running angles as crucial to his plans.

"Brian brings an extra dimension to our game attacking-wise," Balshaw said. "He wants all the players to think for themselves and not be told what to do and use the skills we know we've got.

"He's got a great rugby brain on him and I really enjoy working with him. With John Wells, Andy Robinson and Mike Ford as well, we've got a good coaching team.

Balshaw scored five tries in four games during the 2001 Six Nations

"The ideas they've brought to the table, mixed in with some of the lads' ideas, have helped us to make good progress."

Balshaw and his England colleagues are focused on putting those ideas into practice when they face Argentina at Twickenham this weekend.

England will equal their worst run of defeats - seven - if they lose on Saturday but Balshaw insists this prospect will not inhibit the team.

"The boys are in high spirits and we don't think about that at all," he said.

"They beat Wales in the summer and ran New Zealand close - we know it's going to be a hell of a game.

"They've got a very aggressive team, particularly their forwards and some dangerous backs. Most of their players play in France and we all know that the French sides are very good.