How a Maro Itoje prank triggered infamous inhouse England brawl
Former England fullback Mike Brown has revealed how an innocent Maro Itoje prank on a social was the catalyst for his now-infamous 2019 brawl with centre Ben Te’o.
Brown has given more detail of what happened in the lead-up to the incident in 2019, which ultimately saw the pair excluded from England’s Rugby World Cup campaign in Japan.
The incident made national headlines but Brown has up until now refused to go into detail about what exactly happened. For the first time in three years, the Newcastle Falcons fullback has explained exactly what happened in Italy.
“It was unfortunate really,” Brown told RugbyPass Jim Hamilton in the Rugby Roots documentary. “You’ve been on enough socials to know things like that happen.
“We’d had a really intense two week period in Treviso in our World Cup camp. The training was the toughest I’ve ever experienced in my life.
“And we hadn’t done too much socially away from it. So at the end of that two-week block we had a social. Just a beach club during the day.
“Some guys had a few too many. I think I’d had like two drinks. I’m not a big drinker. But then we’d worked hard so.
“There was a situation where another player had too many. I don’t know whether I should his name. He’s not a great drinker,” joked Brown. “Maro [Itoje] decided it would be funny to go around whacking people, in a fun, jovial way, but he’s a big guy and he’s been drinking.
“He hit me very hard there [points at chest]. Hard enough to leave a massive handprint. And I’m sitting there just chatting, having a good relax for the first time in a few weeks and he’s come up behind me and whacked me.
“He’s done it to a few people, but I didn’t really take kindly to that.
“So I left it a few minutes because I was steaming. I was so angry.
“I left it a few minutes, calmed down, then pulled him aside and said ‘Look, I know we’re having a good time and that, but I don’t really appreciate that. I think it’s disrespectful, just don’t do it again. And it was fine, me and Maro were fine.”
“Ben [Te’o] being the wind-up he is, kind of cottoned on to that and then for the rest of the time decided he would try and wind me up. And he’d had a few aswell. He likes his drink.
“He kept on [motions a pushing gesture with hands], ‘You’re not going to do anything, you’re not going to do anything. Tough guy on the pitch’, just messing around.
“There was a case where he [Te’o] was trying to do it and he kind of fell over this table and knocked a load of drinks over.”
At that point two young England recruits – and teammates of Brown at Harlequins – attempted to settle things down.
“Joe Marchant and Alex Dombrandt, who were new to the environment at the time, just stood up and were like ‘Ben, what are you doing? Just leave him alone. We’re just trying to chill out.’
“I don’t think he liked that because they were two young guys and it wound him up a bit. He went away and I think he was a bit annoyed because he’d been shown up by two young lads.
“So then we left, early evening, late afternoon, we all walked back because we always left as a team to get on the coach.
“I can hear him in front of me with a group of lads. There’s a couple of us and then there’s a big group and he’s going ‘I’m going to knock him out on the bus, I’m going to do this to him, I’m going to that to him’.
“I was like ‘Te’o, I’m stood right behind you. What’s your problem?’
“I’m walking and he kind of walks back to me and we meet and he’s just swung for me. He clips me nicely [points to brow]. He’s handy with his fists aswell. He spends more time doing his boxing on the side of the pitch than training on it,” laughed Brown. “Anyone who knows Te’o, knows he’s not the biggest trainer.
“He’s done a lot of boxing and he’s a big lad and he clipped me well. We just kind of came together and everyone kind of dove in and broke it up.
“I didn’t get near him. By the time he’d thrown it, to us coming together, everyone was in there just pulling us apart. That’s basically what happened.”
Head coach Eddie Jones’ blamed both players for the incident, a fact that still rankles with Brown.
“Eddie didn’t take kindly to that. It was a shame really. He tried to make that the reason why I wasn’t going to the World Cup. He didn’t speak to me from the moment it happened… I felt a bit let down because not many lads said ‘Mike didn’t actually really do much. It was instigated by other people.’
“I didn’t feel like anyone really had my back. People were kind of looking after themselves because it was close to a World Cup and I kind of understand that.
“That wasn’t the reason why I didn’t go to the World Cup. I think it was just easier for Eddie to put it on that, as I’d kind of been getting pushed out of the team as that season had gone on.
“Then a few days later when he’s ringing around people to say they’re not involved, he kind of puts it on that. I said to him ‘Look, I understand selection is what it is, but don’t put it on that [the fight]. You haven’t even asked me what happened.
“With all due respect, I didn’t really do anything. I don’t feel like it was my fault, I hadn’t drunk much, two drinks or whatever. There were people in a worse state than me and I was just trying to mind my own business.
“So he [Eddie Jones] just switched and turned on me, effing and blinding. It wasn’t nice. Just be a man and say what is the reason I’m not getting picked. Don’t try to put it on that, because it’s not that. It’s pretty clear and obvious that it’s not that.
“I asked him to tell me what he thinks happened and he said ‘My security guards were there, they told me what happened.
“I said, let me see what they’ve said has happened, because he said he had written reports. He wouldn’t give me that. He said: ‘Who the F do you think you are?’ because I was going back at him and he doesn’t like that.
“It’s a shame it ended up like that. I wanted clarity on why I wasn’t getting picked, not some made-up excuse.”
Brown says he doesn’t hold any major grudge against Te’o, who had been a friend of his up until the incident.
“With Ben Te’o it was fine. It is what it is. It happens on socials. I didn’t think he’d be like that being pretty decent mates with him. It’s not like I hold a grudge against him. And it wasn’t the reason I didn’t go to the World Cup.”
Brown and Hamilton joked that Itoje’s initial whack was the real reason behind the bust-up.
“When I confronted him [Itoje] about what he was doing, he stopped and he was fine. It is what it is.
“I didn’t do enough during that season. I didn’t do enough of what Eddie wanted to see… It’s just a shame it ended like that. And it got out in the press that that was the reason you’re not going and it’s not and then my name gets tarnished.
“That’s the hard thing. Everyone just sees that story, and at the time you don’t think you can really put your point of view across and say what happened because there’s still a glimmer of hope that someone might get injured and you’ll get called up.
“You just have to take it on the chin and keep quiet.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
3 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
2 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
3 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
3 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
3 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
2 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to comments