Earls has shown a lack of respect
SAYS FRASER BROWN
THE last time Fraser Brown took to the field in the European Champions Cup, he was the victim of a controversial tip tackle from Munster’s Keith Earls.
The winger was subsequently — and quite correctly — sent off but amends were seemingly made in the aftermath and, for the Glasgow Warriors hooker at least, the matter was laid to rest.
Earls, however, saw things differently. Awarded a two-week ban by an independent disciplinary committee, the Irish international then bizarrely claimed Brown ‘could have done more to protect himself’ as he fell — and implied he had milked the incident.
‘Yes, I did lift his leg but I felt he could have done a bit more to save the impact,’ said Earls. ‘The way he went, I thought he was going for it a small bit, to be honest with you. I spoke to him and he said he was just trying to protect himself.’
Unsurprisingly, Brown was disappointed at the reaction of his fellow professional, who had stormed off the park after his red card having had a verbal exchange with Warriors full-back Stuart Hogg and kicking water bottles on his way up the tunnel after just 19 minutes.
Emotions had been running high during that match in mid-October given it had come the day after the funeral of Munster’s head coach, Anthony Foley, who tragically died at the age of just 42.
But while Earls’ behaviour on the field — dangerous as it was — was perhaps understandable, to then reopen the controversy three weeks ago certainly seems unnecessary. Especially to Brown.
‘We spoke after the incident and we actually messaged each other a couple of times and I thought that it was put to bed,’ said the Warriors forward. ‘I’d just say it’s a little bit disappointing to hear what he’s come out with in the last couple of weeks.
‘I am not going to go into too much detail but I would say, though, if you do something wrong, it’s being big enough to put your hand up and say you got something wrong. For me it’s disappointing he could come out and put the blame somewhere else.
‘Rugby is such a physical sport and, every single moment in the game, you can be right on the edge of doing something really well or you can just go over that edge.
‘I don’t think anyone goes out there to deliberately hurt anybody and I am sure he didn’t. Afterwards, though, claiming that I could probably have done more is a bit disrespectful to myself.’
Earls was rested when Munster beat Warriors 16-15 in the Pro12 at Scotstoun last weekend, so the pair did not go head to head.
That game was Brown’s first outing for Glasgow since being on Scotland duty during the autumn Tests and he will keep his place in the squad for the trip to Paris to face Racing 92 tomorrow.
With Scotland international props Zander Fagerson, Alex Allan, Gordon Reid and Ryan Grant all available, there will be real strength either side of the hooker.
‘We really need to take care of our set-piece to have a chance of winning and we have the players who can do that,’ said Brown.
‘Last year, when we played Racing 92 in the European Cup in Paris, we were probably a little bit outmuscled and we can’t allow that to happen again.
‘Because of that we’ve been working hard on our set-piece and also our line-out defence as it’s a real area of the game where we can’t let them get a foothold, especially if they have big Leone Nakarawa, who used to play for us, fit enough to be involved.
‘The line-out defence has been a problem area for us even in the last couple of weeks, against Ospreys and Munster. As a forward pack, to watch teams try and dominate us like that up front where we believe we are strong hurts.’
The 27-year-old old, who has 20 caps, does not accept his team are at a crisis point in their season after three straight league defeats.
And Brown believes that a lack of concentration and intensity at key moments has been their downfall but can be fixed. He even suggested that continued success in making the play-offs every year under Gregor Townsend and winning the league title two years ago may have allowed complacency to set in at various points.
‘It only takes a ten-minute spell, or one lineout drive, or one lapse of concentration when you’re playing at the very top end of rugby to cost you a win,’ said Brown.
‘It’s so hard once you’ve given over that control in a game to try and wrestle it back, so we have to make sure we stay in the right frame of mind for the whole 80 minutes against Racing 92.
‘Getting our mindset spot on is something we can fix ahead of the game in Paris and we have to make sure we keep the standards high and continue the hard-working ethos we have.
‘We are a team that have had relative success the last few years, and with that success you can sometimes get a little bit of complacency, and it’s how we maintain our standards and drive so we don’t let that complacency creep in that will help define our season. It’s an exciting challenge for us to go over to Paris to take them on but we can come back with a win.’