Tony Brown: 'I talked to Razor a couple of months ago about joining the All Blacks'

Tony Brown has shared some candid insights into his All Blacks ambitions and how the All Blacks’ 2023 head coach appointment process played out, even revealing that he was approached by Scott Robertson a matter of months ago to join the All Blacks coaching ticket.

Brown and Robertson’s friendship dates back to the New Zealand age-grade teams of the ’90s, where they were both regular selections, before becoming teammates in the All Blacks by the decade’s end.

While the pair have never coached together, their Super Rugby rivalry – Brown with the Highlanders and Robertson with the Crusaders – was elevated to the Test arena in 2023 when Robertson landed the All Blacks’ top job, and Brown moved to South Africa to head Rassie Erasmus’s attack.

Brown was understood to be a name involved in Jamie Joseph’s bid to become the All Blacks head coach in the 2023 race, but appears to have been left feeling a touch sour about how things played out.

“It was definitely the Scott Robertson team versus the Jamie Joseph team, that was the process that New Zealand Rugby set up,” Brown reflected, speaking with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB.

“So I think with me being with Jamie, then Scott potentially didn’t want to take me as well. He had quality coaches in Jason Holland and Leon MacDonald, Scott Hansen and Jason Ryan, so they had a strong coaching team. Jamie put his team together and I was part of that, and New Zealand Rugby went with Scott. 100 per cent, he probably deserved the job with his success.

“So it was just the way it was, and then I was stuck, either looking at going back to Japan, there was a little opportunity with Argentina, and then Rassie gave me a call about South Africa. I played under Rassie for the Stormers and knew him as a coach and knew that he’d obviously done some amazing things with South Africa over the last two World Cups, and I just thought, oh well, what an opportunity to go and learn off him.”

Brown signed a four-year deal with the Springboks and intends to see that period through, despite the All Blacks’ recent advances.

“I’ve even talked to Razor a couple of months ago about potentially joining the All Blacks, but it’s like I said to him, my commitment to South Africa was four years, and I’ve always wanted to honour that.

“I said I’m just so frustrated that no one talked to me two years ago. But that’s rugby, and that’s coaching. He had his coaches, and I just had to go and find another job.”

Were that not the case, Brown says he “100 per cent would have” put his name in the hat for the now vacant All Blacks job.

“Two years ago as well, and in the future. It’s definitely something I want to do. The timing just hasn’t worked.”