Brown happy with progress but looking for sharp improvement

After six months of working with the Springboks on their attack, Tony Brown is happy with the progress that has been made but future opponents can feel forewarned that a lot more is expected of the world champions by the former All Black flyhalf and Japan assistant coach.

Considering there have arguably been some growing pains evident in some big matches, most notably the Cape Town Castle Lager Rugby Championship game against the All Blacks, in the series that started the year against Ireland, and also of course in the away loss to Argentina, the Boks have done remarkably well to get to this point of the international season with just two losses reflected on their record.

While the initial stages of Brown’s stint as attack mentor raised the inevitable questions from those who either just don’t understand the need to evolve or don’t accept it, there appears more general acceptance from the South African rugby public of the need for the Boks to introduce a new attacking dynamic to the traditional strengths that have brought success.

One particularly important group of stakeholders who have brought in to the changes Brown has scripted for them are the players themselves.

“We are absolutely loving it as he has changed the way we see attack. He has taught us to be a lot braver on attack. As a No 9 I have also been encouraged to run more with the ball in hand, not just to pass it off the deck, which suits me,” said scrumhalf Cobus Reinach.

NOT REINVENTING THE WHEEL

Yet while there has been a perception of change in the air over the past few months, Brown emphasised during a media conference during the buildup to Saturday’s big game of the November tour against England at Twickenham that there has been no intention on his part to reinvent the wheel by moving the Boks too far away from their DNA.

“For me it has been a great six months from an attack point of view, with the players buying into what I am selling them and what I am trying to drive,” said Brown.

“I must emphasise that the team still has to attack the way the Boks play the game. The strengths are strong physicality and being on top of the gainline. I am not going to teach the Boks to attack like the All Blacks. That is not my brief. I am here to develop an attacking game that suits the Boks and their strengths.

“We are slowly starting to get that right, but this time next year I will expect us to have improved quite a bit more as we start the buildup to the 2027 World Cup,” he added.

Brown reiterated what he said earlier in the year about it being a great privilege and opportunity for him to work with the wealth of talent South African rugby has available to it.

“It has been a massive honour joining the Boks. They have won the last two World Cups, and they are the No 1 team in the world, so it has been a great opportunity for me as an attack coach. It is not so much that I have been given free licence but I am changing the way the players look at the game, how they use their X-factor around their physicality.

“It has been six months. Rassie asked me to see if we can make improvements on attack, to give the athletes the opportunity to be great on the rugby field. We are moving in the right direction and hopefully we will improve further on this tour and next year through to the World Cup.”

LAW CHANGE WILL MAKE GAME MORE DYNAMIC

While many people think an attack coach works mostly around ball in hand offensive plays, that is of course far from the truth in a sport where kicking plays a big role in exploiting space for attacking opportunity.

And the recent law changes that take away the protection the catcher previously enjoyed through “escorts” shielding them when fielding contestable kicks have presented another big attacking opportunity.

“It has obviously been just two weeks since the new rule started to be used, and everyone is still trying to adapt and to get the hang of it,” said Brown.

“Perhaps the people who are finding it the hardest are the referees and assistant referees, who have had to deal with a few issues around consistency. But the changes are going to make the game more dynamic. When you win the ball in the air from an attacking kick (as the attacking team) or the ball goes to ground and you manage to pick it up it gives you a dynamic attacking opportunity so there is a lot of focus at the moment around that (avenue of creating attacking opportunity).”