SA Rugby made the right call to hold attack coach Tony Brown to his Springbok contract, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
Brown’s decision to return to New Zealand and join the All Blacks coaching staff in 2028 shouldn’t have surprised anyone. He is a former All Blacks flyhalf who wants to coach his country and has family there.
What did surprise many was NZ Rugby’s decision to announce the appointment 15 months before the 2027 World Cup.
Former All Blacks flyhalf Stephen Donald described it as a “power play” from NZ Rugby ahead of the four-Test Greatest Rivalry series between the Springboks and All Blacks later this year, and next year’s global showpiece, where the teams are likely to meet in the quarter-finals.
“Maybe it’s the ultimate mind game back at Rassie – seeing their man in a Springbok tracksuit, saying he will be in an All Blacks tracksuit in 18 months’ time,” Donald added.
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The reaction in South Africa was predictable. Some fans said SA Rugby should release Brown from his contract immediately before he learns any more Bok ‘secrets’, while others argued that keeping him until the end of the 2027 World Cup would only benefit the team.
I agree with the latter view. For me, the Boks would only be hurting themselves – and giving New Zealand what it wants – by letting him go now.
Brown has already spent two seasons with the Springboks and knows pretty much everything there is to know about the back-to-back world champions.
More importantly, he has played a significant role in the team’s attacking evolution and is a professional who has given the Boks his all over the past two years. I suspect he will do the same over the next two as he chases a World Cup title as a coach.
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Take the emotion out of it. The reality is that Brown has helped the Springboks add new dimensions to their attack. While they remain a team built on set-piece dominance and physicality, they have become more ambitious, more varied and less predictable with ball in hand.
Why would Erasmus want to lose that influence two years before a World Cup?
During a Rugby Rivals podcast, former All Blacks wing John Kirwan joked that Brown would help New Zealand “steal” all the Springboks’ “intellectual property”. Former Bok lock Victor Matfield responded that the way the world champions play is hardly a secret.
“I think everyone knows what the DNA of the Springboks is,” he said. “We want to dominate the set-piece, dominate territory, and the kicking game and aerial battle are hugely important to us. Then we’ve got X-factor players who can hurt you from anywhere.”
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Matfield is right. The Springboks have never hidden who they are. Their success has come from executing their strengths better than everyone else.
And, as Matfield pointed out, if Brown will continue learning about the Springboks over the next two years, the opposite is also true. The Boks will learn more about how Brown thinks, how he coaches attack and how he sees the game.
There is also the fact that several senior players are expected to end their Test careers after the World Cup. The Springboks will enter a new era in 2028 with some fresh faces, while Erasmus will continue to innovate and evolve.
Until then, the Boks will have one of the best attacking coaches in world rugby working for them. Rather than worrying about what Brown might do in 2028, let’s focus on what he can still help South Africa achieve before he leaves.
With Tony Brown set to join the All Blacks in 2028, should the Boks have let him leave now?
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
The post Boks smart to keep Brown on appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
SA Rugby made the right call to hold attack coach Tony Brown to his Springbok contract, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
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