Healthy Brown shines in Crusaders return
Wretched, unlucky, cursed; Crusaders loose forward Jed Brown has heard it all.
You would be hard pressed to find a New Zealand professional rugby player, who has had a worse run with injuries in recent years than the 26-year-old openside.
Brown strained medial collateral ligaments (MCL) in his right knee while playing for Canterbury in 2014, but returned later in the NPC competition.
Worse was yet to follow, busting the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the same knee during the following season’s NPC.
He has also been afflicted by serious hamstring and shoulder issues, which has stalled his progress and prevented him from debuting for his hometown Crusaders until this year. It was somewhat ironic then injury provided him with an opportunity to shine against the Rebels in Melbourne on Saturday.
Brown, featuring for the first time since March 17 due to a hamstring niggle, was called upon to replace Pete Samu in the 10th minute, who hobbled off with an ankle problem.
He made the most of rare Super Rugby game-time, delivering an industrious showing and dotting down for two tries in the first half.
Brown crashed over from a lineout drive for his first and then did his best winger impersonation, dashing down the right flank to finish off the final pass from captain Sam Whitelock.
‘‘Tries in general don’t come very often. The boys are giving me a bit of stick about my dive in the corner there. She was a bit rough there,’’ he said.
‘‘I sort of expected 30 minutes, but then Pete went down and I ended up getting 70 off the back of 30 minutes of club [rugby], so the lungs were battling at the end of the game.’’
With Samu in doubt for the rest of the campaign, Burnside’s Brown could be the big benefactor, getting the chance to back up firstchoice openside Matt Todd.
Brown will likely be retained in the game-day squad for Saturday afternoon’s mouth-watering clash against the Highlanders in Christchurch.
A spot in the reserves beckons with Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, Todd and Jordan Taufua expected to start in the loose with Kieran Read still out with a broken thumb.
Brown has previously been a Crusaders wider training player, but was rewarded by his former provincial coach Scott Robertson, gaining his first Super Rugby contract this season. In last year’s NPC, he managed six starts, making an appearance off the bench in the final against Tasman as Canterbury captured their eighth premiership title since 2008.
Injuries have restricted him to just 28 games over five seasons for Canterbury since debuting against Auckland in 2012. Despite his horrific injury run and previously being in the shadows of the retired Richie McCaw and Todd in the openside pecking order, Brown never gave up hope.
While many would have moved to another provincial union or looked at their options overseas, he remained loyal to his roots.
‘‘In my mind was always representing either Canterbury or the Crusaders [while] doing the rehab in the gym. To get some game-time now is bloody awesome. I always worked hard and knew I was going to get an opportunity. Razor [Robertson] said that to me at the start of the year.’’