Bok attack guru gets defensive

Tony Brown has backed his all-round tactical innovation and nous to help the world champion Springboks unlock the best defence systems on the planet.

In his first season as a member of Rassie Erasmus’ backroom staff, Brown has been tasked with tweaking the Boks’ attacking blueprint over the next four-year World Cup cycle.

Historically dangerous with their physically dominant forwards, Erasmus’ charges have already evolved under the former All Blacks playmaker, recently helping the South Africans to bonus-point Rugby Championship wins in Australia.

Speaking on the Behind the Ruck podcast with former Boks Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh, Brown, who previously coached the Highlanders and the Japan national team, shared insight into his strategic style while highlighting his skills set.

“I think I can coach all parts of the game,” he said. “I definitely coached defence before.

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“When I first started with Otago I was head coach and back in those days we only had one assistant and he just did a little bit of lineout and scrum stuff. So I was doing the defence, the attack, the kicking game, and all the parts of the rugby that needed to be done.”

“The game is moving so fast and in the last five or six years the defensive side of the game’s become so good,” Brown added.

“There have been a lot of coaches influencing that from rugby league around the line speed and how to tackle and shut down the ball and dominate attacks.

“Defence has become a massive part of the game and there are so many really well-coached teams now, everyone specialises in defence, so it’s tough to create an attack that’s going to beat a really good defensive side, but that’s the challenge.

“Then the key part about being innovative and changing the game is trying to find little things, but you do need your players to first understand why you’re doing it, then they need to be able to execute it.”