Watch VideoIntegrity first: Why Springbok fans should celebrate Tony Brown instead of fearing the All Blacks

Springbok assistant coach Tony Brown remains fully focused on South Africa’s 2027 World Cup campaign before heading home to join the All Blacks in 2028. Photo: Backpagepix The news thatTony Brownis to join the All Blacks coaching staff in 2028 should not shock anyone, nor should it be greeted with suspicion or concern over a loss of Springbok intellectual property to the “Old Foe”. It was only four months ago that the mild-mannered Brown was at the centre of massive speculation that he would jump ship from the Springboks and join the coach who would replace the sacked Scott Robertson.

The latter was fired out of the blue, and while a replacement was being sought — it was between Jamie Joseph and the (successful) Dave Rennie — Brown was interviewed by theOtago Daily Times, the newspaper of his home town of Dunedin. Brown was in New Zealand at the time because it was the Springboks’ off-season. The 18-cap All Black said he would love to coach his native country.

Brown said that not long before Robertson was fired, Robertson asked him to jump ship from the Springboks and join his coaching staff. He declined the offer because he is contracted to the Boks until the end of next year’s World Cup in Australia. Brown’s integrity outweighed the pull of patriotism.

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But here is the thing: Brown confirmed that if he had been offered a role at the All Blacks at the time that Robertson succeeded Ian Foster, he would have taken it. “One hundred percent, I would have taken the job,” Brown said. “And in the future, it’s definitely something I want to do.

Just timing hasn’t worked. My commitment to South Africa was for four years, and I’ve always planned to honour it. “I told him (Robertson) that I’m so frustrated that no one talked to me two years ago.

But that’s rugby, and that’s coaching. He had his coaches, and I just had to go and find another job.” AndRassie Erasmuswas the man offering employment, but Brown was always going to go home to the All Blacks if an offer came when his four years were up with the Boks. New Zealand is his home, and where his wife and family await him.

Brown is halfway through his tenure at the Springboks and has proved an invaluable acquisition. The Springboks have added lethal attack to their DNA of set-piece power, dogged defence, and relentless aerial bombardment. Yes, Brown has accumulated intimate intelligence on the Springbok players, but he has never behaved like a Cold War spy exporting information from East to West. At the end of the 2027 World Cup, when he has added even more attacking finesse to the Boks, Brown’s knowledge of how the Boks operate will have increased exponentially, but so too will the Springbok coaching staff’s knowledge of how he coaches.

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