'In spite of everything the past turbulent year, Saracens is a club that does a lot of stuff right'
Leaving aside the obvious, the flagrant shattering of the salary cap and all of the rancour and controversy that followed, Kelly Brown sees plenty he can pinch from Saracens and use to propel Glasgow Warriors upwards. A culture exists at the English and European champions that everybody who plays there seems to hail.
It’s not just the prolific winning – players talk of an intangible brotherhood, portraying a rugby utopia where people are energised and cared for and pursue their goals with rampant vigour. Of course, it’s much easier to cultivate such an environment when lavish sums are being meted out and trophies arrive year on year, but there is patently more to it than plain money.
A decade after leaving Glasgow for Saracens as a barnstorming flanker, Brown has returned to the Warriors as a coach. The former Scotland captain has a specific remit to oversee the contact area and defensive lineouts on Danny Wilson’s new staff.
“In spite of everything that happened at Saracens over the past year, it’s been turbulent which is maybe quite an understatement, but it’s a club that in my opinion does a lot of stuff right and I want to bring a lot of the good bits up to Glasgow, absolutely,” Brown said.
“The thing that amazed me the most when I went to Saracens was that we never spoke about winning. We spoke about going and making memories and I thought that was a brilliant way to do it. I know that ultimately professional sport’s about winning but I just thought as a way to take all the pressure off the players it was an amazing way to do it and focus on.
Always a silver lining https://t.co/Afb5E8f0F0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 15, 2020
“That changed over the years as the club has had success and they do speak about it a little bit more, but I thought it was a great way to do it. Let’s just focus on making unbelievable memories and if you do that you win games.”
After retiring in 2017, Brown began his coaching voyage with the Saracens academy, frequently stepping up to assist guiding the first team in the Anglo-Welsh and Premiership Rugby Cups. On his watch, some wonderful talent emerged and flourished, among the graduates Manu Vunipola, Rotimi Segun and Joel Kpoku.
Gregor Townsend had called upon the 38-year-old to work with Scotland on several occasions. He soaked up the wisdom of Mark McCall and learned from visiting coaches such as Daryl Gibson, the former Glasgow and All Blacks centre who was then in charge of the Waratahs.
But while Brown may have come from a hugely successful juggernaut, he knows trying to turn Glasgow into Saracens will only rankle. “Every culture is slightly different and there is no way I’m going to come up and say, ‘I’ve been at Saracens, I know all this stuff’. There are little bits and pieces I can definitely bring up,” Brown said.
“In Glasgow, when I played there and speaking to those who have been here in the last ten years, it’s a club with a great culture and a really good environment. I’m not coming in to try and change everything, but there are little bits that I do feel we can add and improve because we are striving to get better.
“When (the Saracens culture) was started back in 2009, the year before I went, it was Brendan Venter and Edward Griffiths, the director of rugby and the chief executive. It has evolved over the years, but ultimately it’s all about caring for people.
“A lot of people had this ethos – and they still do – to keep people keen, treat them mean. At Sarries it was the exact opposite. That’s certainly how I like to operate and it’s something I’ll definitely keep in the forefront of my mind at Glasgow.”
The flit north was sudden. Having coached alongside Wilson in the national camp, lockdown brainstorms and technical check-ins quickly became a job offer. It sparked what Brown calls a “mad sprint” to find a house for the family amid the Covid-19 pandemic, ending with a place in Edinburgh an Owen Farrell punt from Jim Hamilton’s home.
🗣️ "As soon as I got the phone call from Danny I was very excited."
We caught up with @kellydrbrown to talk about his new role with Glasgow, what he plans to bring to the role and what to expect from the third leg of The 1872 Cup.#WhateverItTakes
⚔️🛡️ pic.twitter.com/OSvCu72r4h— Glasgow Warriors (@GlasgowWarriors) August 16, 2020
The two old Saracens and Scotland warhorses have been flogging each other in a variety of home workouts lately – “trying to turn back the clock”, as Brown says, although predictably it has “become apparent that we can’t”.
“I’ve got a lot of love for that club and I was definitely sad to leave,” he added. “I’ve got a lot of good friends and it’s been an amazing place to be for ten years. I was also a bit sad to be leaving because of the opportunity they have now to build again, that is an amazing opportunity. I’ve nothing but fond memories of my time there and it’s one of two clubs I love.”
In the past three years, Glasgow have twice made the Champions Cup quarter-finals and twice been drawn away to Saracens. On each afternoon, a thorough battering ensued. The perception of the Warriors is that while they weave some gorgeous attacking rugby, they can be outmuscled and overwhelmed by more physically imposing opposition.
“It’s definitely an area, not just as Glasgow but with Scottish sides over the years that Scottish sides have always been a little bit smaller,” Brown said. “Some of the guys I worked with in the academy at Sarries, the young athletes and the number of them was just significantly bigger in England. It’s definitely something we need to get right.
3 years, doesn’t time fly! https://t.co/6uGs5C6Ma1
— Kelly Brown (@kellydrbrown) April 29, 2020
“What has been great is that Glasgow have got to the knockout stages in these big competitions and have learned lessons from that. Now we need to understand how, when we get to these games, we start to win them. We did in 2015 but in Europe, we need to keep giving ourselves opportunities in knockout games and soon we’ll start to take them.”
Glasgow are back in pre-season now, although they do not know when they will next play. The Guinness PRO14 has yet to announce its fixtures for the new season with its two South African entrants unable to start the campaign due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
In Scotland, there have been several high-profile breaches of lockdown rules by top-flight footballers. Multiple games were postponed as a result. Those national rules have been tightened again this week, and the Warriors players have been reminded not to take any chances.
“What is great is that we’re in, and we’re doing the pre-season, and we’re anticipating to start next season at some point in the next month or so,” Brown said. “We get tested at the start of every week and then after that pretty much everything has got to be socially distanced. Obviously, on the training pitch, we get a little bit closer, but all the coaches wear masks during all the sessions.
“We’re conscious that we need to be whiter than white, and that’s something we’ve been speaking to all the players about. There was a change in the lockdown rules on Monday, and so we’ve spoken to all of the players – just highlighting how important it is that we make good choices and don’t do anything that could jeopardise us going back to games.”
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