How the Chiefs lured Anton Lienert-Brown away from the all-powerful Crusaders
The Crusaders are a team that, more often than not, get what they want.
They’ve won the last three Super Rugby titles on the trot, emerged as champions in 10 of the 24 competitions that have taken place since 1996 and always have a healthy supply of All Blacks on their books.
In fact, 13 of their current squad members have represented national sides and that’s after factoring in that they lost five All Blacks following last year’s World Cup in Japan.
One man who they don’t have on their books, however, is Anton Lienert-Brown.
The Crusaders have always been excellent at bringing some of the brightest young talents to the region post-schooling to groom the players for a future in the red and black jersey. They’ve had ample success with the likes of Codie Taylor, Sam Whitelock, Jack Goodhue and Braydon Ennor, just to name a few.
It’s not hard to see why so many of New Zealand’s most promising players choose to head to the region – they’ve got an exceptional academy and are comfortably the most successful rugby union when it comes to helping players achieve their dreams of playing for the All Blacks.
Lienert-Brown, however, was somehow never snapped up by the Crusaders – and he was born and bred in the region, a Canterbury man through and through.
“I was one of the first players as a kid to not stick around Canterbury,” Lienert-Brown told RugbyPass.
“I went through the Canterbury age-grade set-ups from under 14s, I think. I was in their Canterbury Academy with the likes of Richie Mo’unga so I did have a lot of association with them.
“To walk away from Canterbury at the time, a lot of people would think you’re silly because they do have a world-class set up down there. That was just the thing to do – you play your rugby down there, you stick down there, and then they may bring other players in and that just creates great competition.”
But Lienert-Brown did walk away from Canterbury, instead signing with Waikato and the Chiefs – and that’s largely thanks to the initiative of coaching guru Wayne Smith, who travelled down to Christchurch Boys’ High to have a chat with the impressive midfielder.
“After a school game in my last year – it was against Christ’s College actually, I was playing Damian [McKenzie] – and Smithy came and approached me. He said, ‘What are you up to tomorrow? Can I come around and visit you and your family?’
“He came over after that and he had a plan that he set out in front of me and my family and said where he saw me as a player down the track and then he flew us up to the Chiefs. They showed us around and then I got to meet another great coach, Dave Rennie.”
This was in the final stages of the Chiefs’ 2012 campaign – their first under Rennie and Smith, and eventually, also their first-ever title win.
“They were having a really good year and they brought me up during their semi-final week,” Lienert-Brown said. “So I went in and watched the captain’s run before they played their semi-final and funnily enough, they were playing the Crusaders – and they ended up winning the next day.
“At the time, I was a Crusaders fan but to get to meet the players and the coaches in person, I almost wanted the Chiefs to win because when you get to know the people, it makes watching rugby completely different. It was just perfect timing.”
"If your team’s not doing so well, confidence is low and you've lost your groove, you tend to try harder but things just get worse."@LimaSopoaga spoke candidly with @TomVinicombe about the challenges he's faced since arriving at @WaspsRugby. #PremRugbyhttps://t.co/MzVZDBTSkU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 10, 2020
And it was getting to know the Chiefs set-up, the players and the coaches that ultimately lured Lienert-Brown away from the Crusaders. Yes, the Chiefs were on an extraordinary run and it’s naturally considerably easier to entice young players to your team when the victories are coming thick and fast, but it was less about the results and more about the environment and opportunities for growth that won Lienert-Brown over in the end.
“It was almost just them being such genuine down-to-earth people was what lured me up here, but also them having such a good environment and being such good coaches at the same time,” said Lienert-Brown.
“I had a lot of association with Canterbury, but I didn’t have a Todd Blackadder come to talk to me or one of the coaches high up – which, to be fair, I didn’t expect at all.
“So to be at school and for someone like Smithy to approach me was unreal. You never think that a coach of his calibre would come and talk to you. He could have easily told someone he knew in Christchurch to go talk to Anton and say, ‘Smithy’s keen’, but that’s not the man he is, he wants to meet you in person. It was just surreal for him to come up and talk to me and be interested in me as a rugby player.”
Almost eight years later, Lienert-Brown is now one of the most revered centres in the world and is nearing 40 caps for the All Blacks and 70 for the Chiefs.
The fleet-footed 25-year-old debuted for the All Blacks in 2016 – setting up a try with his first touch of the ball in test rugby – and started in New Zealand’s crunch matches at last year’s World Cup against South Africa, Ireland and England.
Admittedly, the Crusaders haven’t exactly lacked for midfield options since Lienert-Brown relocated to the Waikato. The likes of Tim Bateman, Ryan Crotty and Seta Tamanivalu have served them well in the past while this year’s combination of Jack Goodhue and Braydon Ennor – who were both schooled in Blues territory – is emerging as one of the most well-rounded and deadliest in Super Rugby.
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That’s not to say that the Cantabrians wouldn’t love to have Lienert-Brown on their books in the future; any team in the world would be champing at the bit to bring the Chiefs-man into their squad.
Unfortunately for outside parties, Lienert-Brown recently extended his contract with the Chiefs through until the end of 2023, which means he can continue to grow his combinations with the likes of Quinn Tupaea, Alex Nankivell and Tumua Manu in Mooloo country.
In fact, it’s hard to imagine Lienert-Brown not becoming the seventh player to earn a century of caps for the Chiefs franchise (assuming Aaron Cruden clocks off that milestone later this season) – and a big part of that must surely be accredited to Wayne Smith, the man that bucked the trend and went after the man he wanted, despite the fact that the Crusaders rarely let anyone out from their clutches.
“It’s just the Canterbury system,” said Lienert-Brown. “You got through the age grades and you sort of just work your way up until you either become a Canterbury player or a Crusader.
“But I was approached and that just didn’t happen in Canterbury. I think people just didn’t bother because they knew what the response would probably be. But I guess Smithy had a plan, and normally, his plans work out.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments