Brown’s ready to fight corner
MIKE BROWN is ready to fight. Not literally, in this case, although he wouldn’t shy away from that either. ‘If anyone wants to have a scrap then that’s fine by me,’ he says. For now, the fight he faces is one with status at stake, rather than one of those toeto-toe confrontations on the field that he relishes. Brown is England’s first-choice full back and he wants it to stay that way, but his preferred position is by no means assured. A stalwart in the team built by Conor O’Shea at Harlequins was, in fact, player of the series for England in November, but even his stellar performances may not be enough to earn him immunity from selection scrutiny. England head coach Stuart Lancaster and his assistants are determined to galvanise the back line and their quest has brought Alex Goode of Saracens back into starting contention as a playmaker No 15. Brown has excelled as the last line of defence, as the dependable kick-receiver and as a potent runner who can almost always be relied on to beat the first-up tackler. But he has not been so prominent in the opposition ‘red zone’ at the other end of the field, so instead of certainty that he will line up against France in Paris at the start of the Six Nations a week on Saturday, there is doubt. But the 28-year-old will not go quietly. He will scrap for all he is worth, in the hope of staying where he feels he belongs, rather than fill in on the wing again, or worse still, drop out of the starting XV. ‘The autumn went well, but the hard work starts now really — trying to stay in that position. There are guys who are desperate to take that 15 jersey off me, so I have to work hard to stay in that spot. My hope is to continue at full back. ‘If I’m asked to go back on the wing to do a job, I would be happy to do that for England, because it’s about playing for your country. But I think the coaches prefer me at 15 now, after seeing what I can do there.’ If Goode is to force his way back into the England team as the preferred option at full back, he will have to resist the will of a man who has proved repeatedly that he has the stomach for every fight that comes his way, whether in his career or in a match encounter. Take the career fight first. ‘Nothing has ever come easy for me and I’ve tried to use that for motivation,’ he said. ‘I was never firstchoice for my county. I had to work hard to get to an academy first of all, then after I left college and managed to get a contract with Quins, I was also probably lucky that we got relegated, in a way. That gave a lot of young lads at Quins an opportunity to play first-team rugby. I’m sure if we’d stayed in the Premiership, we wouldn’t have had that chance.’ Then there is Brown’s fighting side in the more literal sense. He doesn’t deny that he enjoys the rows, nor does he dismiss out of hand the ‘Mr Angry’ tag which has been applied to him. This does not equate to endless bouts of fisticuffs, but he savours a flare-up. ‘That’s why I play rugby — I like the confrontational side of the game, the physical side,’ he said. ‘If I was a forward I’m sure people wouldn’t make so much of an issue about it, but because I wear 15, people notice it. That’s just me; it’s the way I like to play - get in people’s faces and wind them up a bit, if needs be. If someone’s going to try to wind me up I will stand my ground. ‘It’s a rugby thing. I’ve not spent my life getting into fights. I definitely change when I cross the whitewash. ‘I’m not saying I could beat up Bakkies Botha, but I can definitely stand up for myself. If anyone wants to have a scrap, then that’s fine by me!’