Calm pivot was fearless tackler, hard runner, deadly goal kicker

Good luck finding out much about Tony Brown as a player when you google him.

It is not because of the relatively common name, nor is it because there is any suggestion he was not one of the greatest players in the history of the Highlanders.

It is simply that his coaching exploits have now comfortably overshadowed even such a wonderful playing career.

And it is with Brown’s coaching that we must start.

He is, as everyone with a skerrick of interest in the game knows, one of the most treasured coaches in the rugby world.

Brown is considered one of the most astute attacking brains in the sport and has therefore been coveted by pretty much every nation and club team you can imagine.

While there remains disappointment that, for various reasons, Brown is not part of the All Blacks coaching staff, watch this space from 2028.

He is presently going great guns as an assistant coach with the Springboks, who next year chase an unprecedented third straight Rugby World Cup victory.

He started his off-field journey as a player-coach at his Japanese club, coached Otago from 2012 to 2014, was assistant to great coaching mate Jamie Joseph at the Highlanders from 2014 to 2016, coached the Highlanders in 2017 and again in 2021-22, and had a long stint beside Joseph with the Japanese national team.

Great coach, no argument there. But what of Brown the player?

Brent Edwards, the late Otago Daily Times sports editor, summed it up best as always:

‘‘To southern rugby fans, Brown epitomises tenacity and old-fashioned guts,’’ Edwards wrote.

‘‘Born in Balclutha and raised in Kaitangata, Brown is as tough as teak and relishes physical confrontation with even the burliest of tight forwards.

‘‘His fearless tackling, hard running and accurate place kicking gained him international respect.’’

Brown was not a big man but he was a terrier on defence, never afraid to put his body on the line.

‘‘You've always got to have a wee bit of fear and a wee bit of nervousness,’’ he told Edwards.

‘‘Sometimes, my tackling isn't textbook style but, as long as the guy goes on the ground and doesn't get too far over the advantage line, that's all that matters.’’

Brown also had all the calmness and game direction you need from a first five, he knew when to make the right pass, and he ran nice lines to be a support link.

He actually made his Highlanders debut, in the inaugural 1996 season, with No12 on his back, outside experienced first five Stephen Bachop.

After some time on and off the bench, Brown was the regular starting No10 from 1998 to 2004.

He had the ‘‘honour’’ — he really did not enjoy the attention showered on him — of having the 1999 Super Rugby final marketed in his name, the ‘‘Party at Tony Brown’s’’ mimicking a popular television advertisement.

That party was spoilt by the Crusaders but Brown got a wonderful send-off from Carisbrook when he led the Highlanders to a stirring victory over the Hurricanes in 2004.

‘‘It was a humbling night and an occasion I'll remember for the rest of my life. It's awesome to play in front of a big crowd at Carisbrook. That's why I play the game.’’

Brown later had a long playing stint in Japan, where he had a frightening incident in which he ruptured his pancreas and required urgent surgery.

Years earlier, he suffered a horrific cut to tendons in his right hand as a wee fellow, and after an initial report amputation was required, his hand was saved through several operations.

After getting his sprigs dirty as a junior at the Crescent club and starting at South Otago High School, Brown finished his schooling at King’s, joined the Harbour club and made the Otago squad.

Brown played 18 tests for the All Blacks, scoring 171 points, two figures that would certainly have been higher but for the presence of Andrew Mehrtens and Carlos Spencer.

His deadly goalkicking led to the rare feat of scoring 30-plus points for the All Blacks in a game in three successive seasons.

Brown, a father of two girls who lives in Wanaka when not on coaching duty, was also a Maori All Black, returned to Super Rugby in South Africa with the Sharks and Stormers, and unexpectedly played a final season for the Highlanders and Otago in 2011.

His brother, Cory, is an assistant coach with the Highlanders.