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'I have the down moments, the uncertainty, the financial pressure'
Former England full-back Mike Brown has spoken about his struggle transitioning from being a high-profile rugby player to life after rugby. The 37-year-old is currently in career limbo following his release at the end of last season from Newcastle Falcons, the club he joined in 2o21 following a stellar stint at Harlequins.
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With the recruitment market in England restricted by the reduced Gallagher Premiership salary cap and a number of clubs in financial turmoil, Brown has been unable to nail down a deal that would allow him to continue playing. Speculation of a switch to France has also died down, leaving him at a loose end with the 2022/23 club season now in full flow.
“I knew how hard it would be with how much I love rugby, I’ve been playing since the age of five and been professional since I was 18 so it’s going to be tough,” said Brown when talking to 2003 World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio, the host of the Evening Standard Rugby Podcast in partnership with Fuller’s London Pride.
“So I have made sure that I have really planned out my day, making sure that I am focussing on my transition, not just hanging on and hoping that something comes with that last paycheque. I have put things in place but I still have ups and downs.
“I’m up I am excited about how broad things are and the opportunities that are out there but then I have the down moments where I am not getting much back, not sure where it is going, the uncertainty, the financial pressure, all those sorts of things, so it is very much up and down.”
"That is a bit of a challenge."
– New Newcastle DoR Dave Walder reveals to @heagneyl ??? some things he has shaken up to show there is life at Falcons after Dean Richards. #NEWvHAR #GallagherPrem https://t.co/wQYWCnPOoG
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 10, 2022
Brown spent just a single season at Newcastle under the director of rugby Dean Richards, who has been succeeded in that role by head coach Dave Walder. The Falcons have lost their opening two matches in the new Premiership season and Brown fears that not enough changes happened during the off-season to ensure the club will perform better this term.
“Newcastle are hopeful every year and then they fall away. I don’t think there is enough change with new people coming in to make it significant, that’s the problem. You have got people in there who have just moved up and it’s the same for me. They will try but when the pressure comes on now they have lost a couple.
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“We found this last season when I was there, we started well but then we had a bad loss against Leicester and more losses and then the pressure comes on and you know what happens with more pressure you resort back to type and old habits come in.
“I have not been there pre-season so I’m hoping they have lifted the standard of the sessions and that the tempo is higher and they can start building on something. You want ambition as a player but if you don’t have a shared vision of what you are striving for then why are you there, why are you working so hard week in week out, day in, day out, basically getting your head kicked in on the weekend, what’s the point?”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments