Springbok attack coach Tony Brown has recalled how a childhood accident almost cost him his right hand.
Speaking to former Sharks coach John Plumtree on the Plumtree Uncut podcast, Brown reflected on the incident and its impact on his rugby career.
“I was two years old, and I put my hand through a pane of glass I found as a rogue toddler,” the former All Blacks flyhalf said.
His grandmother rushed him to a hospital an hour from their home, where a doctor decided the badly injured hand would have to be amputated. But she refused to accept the diagnosis.
“My nana told the doctor, ‘No, you are not,’” Brown recalled.
Instead, she drove him another hour and a half to Dunedin, where a specialist believed the hand could be saved.
What followed was a lengthy recovery involving seven operations over seven years, including the replacement of three tendons using grafts taken from his feet.
Brown only regained full use of the hand when he was around 13 or 14, and to this day can’t straighten it completely.
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Yet the injury, which could have ended his sporting ambitions before they began, ultimately helped shape his approach to rugby.
“It was what made me a player and a coach,” Brown said. “I learned to play with both hands, instead of favouring one hand.”
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
The post How Brown nearly lost his hand appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Springbok attack coach Tony Brown has recalled how a childhood accident almost cost him his right hand.
The post How Brown nearly lost his hand appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
