'It sends a message... as one of my former clubs wrote me off because of age'
Mike Brown believes his starring return to Gallagher Premiership action with Leicester will send out a message to clubs not to write off players because of age.
The former England full-back made his Tigers debut at the age of 37 against Saracens on Sunday and produced a man-of-the-match performance as the league leaders were downed 24-18.
Brown had been without a club since leaving Newcastle at the end of last season, but the former Harlequins star refused to concede that his career was over.
And after earning a short-term deal with Leicester last month following a trial, he was handed a start by Tigers head coach Richard Wigglesworth against Saracens and took full advantage of the opportunity.
Brown, who made 72 appearances for England, said: “It was really good being back out doing something I enjoy.
“I texted Wiggy (Wigglesworth) and offered my services as I believed I could do a job.
“I am fully aware that they have a world-class full-back here in Freddie Steward, but I’m here as cover and feel I can contribute and I think today I’ve shown what I can do.
“I’ve down a lot of training down the park and in the gym in the hope that an opportunity would arise.
“It sends a message to people not to write players off as one of my former clubs wrote me off because of age.”
Tigers were hugely impressive in building up a 24-3 lead after only 35 minutes, with Brown, Cameron Henderson and Handre Pollard all scoring tries.
However, in a remarkable turnaround, it was all Saracens after that and the visitors could consider themselves unlucky to have lost the match – only their second defeat of the season.
Victory keeps the reigning champions in contention for a play-off spot, but Wigglesworth knows they were in a battle at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
He said: “For the first 35 minutes we were a really good team and if we play like that, we are a real handful.
“For the rest of the game we were pretty poor, apart from showing some real dog and fight.
“We were under the cosh for the whole 45 minutes as we just couldn’t game out of our own half and our discipline wasn’t good enough.”
Despite the defeat, Saracens still have a seven-point lead at the top of the Premiership.
Sale lie in second place and their fixture at the AJ Bell Stadium in a fortnight’s time will have a huge bearing on which team finishes top at the end of the regular season.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, who saw Eroni Mawi and Alex Lewington score tries as they fought back, said: “We should have won that game and, although we were up against heroic last-ditch defence, we had five or six chances to score but didn’t do so.
“Definitely we have to do better than that, but I’m pleased at the how the players responded to being 24-3 down and our senior players were superb.
“However, it was an incredibly poor start as we gave away two 50-metre tries in the first 12 minutes, but it will still be a good learning curve for some of our youngsters.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
154 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
173 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
173 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
173 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
173 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
173 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the desperation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
173 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
173 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
2 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
173 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
173 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
173 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
173 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
173 Go to comments