We need to look after players better
AFTER being offered metaphorical magic and granted one wish for English rugby, Mike Brown did not hesitate. Less of it.
Brown loves playing rugby – it is his lifeblood – but more than a decade at the top of the sport has taught him that the game’s prize assets need to be looked after better in this country.
So when, in midweek, the RFU and Premiership Rugby announced a plan for the future that involved extending, rather than contracting the season, it appeared the magic wand had backfired.
There are breaks schemed in the never-ending season for England internationals and a ceiling of 30 games but a cotton-wool jacket it is not.
One glance across the Irish Sea is enough to turn Brown green with envy.
“Look at how the Ireland guys are looked after and compare Johnny Sexton’s minutes to Owen Farrell’s – that’s the example you need to look at,” said Brown.
“Rugby is so tough now the way it is played and training was never as tough as it is now. We have to look at the number of games people are playing, especially the internationals. You can see how many injuries there are.”
The maths are revealing. Farrell played 31 matches last season compared to Sexton’s 22. He spent 944 minutes more on the pitch for club and country last season. His EXCLUSIVE milometer is running ahead again this season. For all the pronouncements this week, English rugby remains a survival game.
Brown has managed to dodge the bullets more successfully than most over his career but there are men down for England as they prepare to play South Africa next Saturday in the first of a potential 20 Tests in the next year. There will be no Chris Robshaw, no Joe Launchbury and neither Vunipola brother.
“There are a lot of big players and big characters out but it is also exciting to see a lot of new faces who have done extremely well in the Premiership,” said Brown.
“The senior guys will have to take up a lot of slack and that includes me. I’ll do the best I can with that. I’m not a massive talker off the field so I have to show the new guys what standards are expected on and off the field and help as much as I can.”
He will do so from the wing. Brown’s successful reincarnation in South Africa in the summer, after a career spent at full-back, surprised many.
“People forget I played a full year on the wing for England and did well. I was on the wing when we beat New Zealand in 2012. It wasn’t like I was just chucked out there in South Africa,” said Brown.
“When Eddie Jones spoke to me about playing wing, he just wanted to bring all the qualities I bring as a full-back on to the wing and also add a few things in terms of how I defend. You don’t see many full-backs getting over the ball and turning it over as much as I do, so when I am on the wing I can do that a bit more.
“I can do both roles very well on the wing as I showed in South Africa and hopefully I get the chance to progress on that.”
With Jones viewing Elliott Daly as primarily a No15 now, it is an experiment that is likely to be persevered with in the Quilter Internationals. His shirt number may change but what will never alter is his passion for the England jersey.
“As you win more caps, you become familiar with the sights and smells of the changing room, but the excitement and the apprehension of playing for England doesn’t change,” he said. “Words don’t really do justice to the feeling. It is amazing.
“I dreamed of playing rugby for England from five years old and every time I do that, especially at Twickenham, the feeling is unbelievable.”
No amount of flogging can diminish that.
Mike Brown is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover shares and understands the values of rugby. @LandRoverRugby