Ex-All Black Tony Brown ‘honoured’ to join Springboks, reveals the legend he tried to play like

Former All Blacks star Tony Brown has revealed the Springboks fly-half that he “tried to play like” during his career as he addressed the media for the first time as South Africa’s new attack coach.

Brown linked up with the Springboks as they began preparations for the 2024 international season and steps into the role of shaping the team’s attacking strategies, taking over many of the responsibilities previously held by Felix Jones.

The renowned attack guru donned the All Blacks jersey in 18 Test matches and was a key player for the Highlanders in 83 games.

Brown’s playing career was not limited to New Zealand, as he also played in South Africa, where he represented the Sharks and the Stormers.

Huge honour

The 49-year-old spoke highly of the honour of assisting the Springboks, his country’s fiercest rival, and revealed that Sharks and Springboks legend Henry Honiball was a player that he tried to emulate during his career and that he hugely admired.

“It’s just a massive privilege to be sitting here,” the ex-Japan assistant coach said.

“The Springboks have a massively proud history, and for me to come in and be a part of that and add to that is a huge honour.

“The way that the Springboks play the game is always admired around the world, and I’ve always been a big admirer of the way that the South African teams play, especially the Springboks.

“My favourite player was Henry Honiball, and I tried to play the game that way as well.

“What the Springboks have done over the last two World Cups is massively impressive; the way they’re able to win big games of rugby and win the key moments in games has been a pleasure to watch.

“For me it’s just exciting to be part of it going forward.”

If not Siya Kolisi, who will captain the Springboks under Rassie Erasmus?

New Springbok attacking coach Tony Brown was a big admirer of Henry Honiball and their style of play 🫡 pic.twitter.com/KbYqA82Qu2

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) March 12, 2024

Tony Brown’s coaching career

Brown began his coaching career in Japan as an assistant at the Wild Knights in 2011 but quickly returned to New Zealand a year later to take up the top job at his beloved Otago.

In 2014, he joined Jamie Joseph at the Highlanders and worked as his assistant until taking over as head coach in 2017.

He would follow Joseph to Japan where he worked as his assistant coach of the national team and the Sunwolves and was the latter side’s head coach in 2019.

He returned to the Highlanders in 2020 as an assistant and took charge as head coach a year later. He also assisted Japan during this period before leaving the Highlanders again in 2022.

It was reported that Brown would assist the All Blacks if Joseph had beaten Scott Robertson to the top job in New Zealand but has now linked up with Rassie Erasmus’ coaching team.

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