‘I’ll be back’ — Brown not finished
TONY Brown wants to come back and coach the Highlanders and he is backing next year’s coaching regime.
Brown signed off as Highlanders coach on Saturday night in a less than ideal way, the Highlanders going down 170 to the Crusaders in the quarterfinal in driving wind and rain in Christchurch.
It was a disappointing way for Brown to finish — for now — with the franchise.
Brown is a gifted attack coach but the side never fired a shot in the terrible conditions as the Crusaders forwards dominated the game.
‘‘It was a tough night at the office for us. In those conditions they were just too good for us. They were pretty dominant up front,’’ he said.
‘‘We just gave away too many penalties in that first half and that gave them all the territory and put us under pressure . . . just poor discipline and they were too good in the conditions.’’
Brown said it was always going to be tough to come back in the second half although he was proud of the side chancing its arm.
The Highlanders lineout was poor and it struggled to win its own ball, which hindered any attacking chances.
The Highlanders did not arrive in Christchurch until lunchtime on Saturday, due to the storm sweeping the South Island but the late arrival had no impact on the game.
‘‘Our game is built around speed and moving the ball and it was just really tough for us to get anything going.’’
He said the yellow card given to loose forward Liam Squire early on in the match was ‘‘pretty weak’’.
‘‘If they are giving yellow cards like that it makes it tough to play the game, especially when you ask your players to be physical.’’
Although the Highlanders’ season ended on Saturday night and Brown is off to Japan to help coach the national side with Jamie Joseph until 2019, he did not think it was the end of his involvement with the southern franchise.
‘‘It is all over but I’ll be back. I love coaching the Highlanders and I want to carry on coaching them in the future. For me, it has been a great season and I’ve enjoyed coaching these guys.
‘‘It wasn’t the way we wanted to finish but I think we performed really well this year.
‘‘No regrets. I’m very proud to have coached the Highlanders . . . it is a team I love and all the players in the changing room now have done the jersey proud for the last eight to nine months.’’
Brown would be involved in the team review of the season over the next few weeks.
‘‘Aaron Mauger has been involved with us this week and he is going to be a great addition to the coaching group. We have already got some great coaches in Mark Hammett, Jon Preston and Clarke Dermody.
‘‘If we don’t take tonight’s game into the equation I think Aaron [Mauger] will want to take the team forward around the attack, as well.’’
Other players will be moving on, along with assistant coach Scott McLeod moving to the All Blacks, and the team would celebrate the season over the next few days.
Hooker Liam Coltman picked up an ankle injury late in the first half but after fears it was broken it was ruled as a bad sprain.
in Christchurch