The identity struggle the Springboks will have with Tony Brown

The appointment of ex-All Black first five Tony Brown as one of the new Springboks assistant coaches raised eyebrows as a surprise move, but one that has generated excitement.

Do the South Africans need help from Kiwis on how to play attacking rugby? Perhaps the appointment says so. Brown is one of the more innovative minds in the game in that regard.

But the most intriguing part of this appointment will be how much sway Brown will have over what plays the Springboks run and where, and whether they will try to become a front-foot attacking side, instead of a reactive one.

While they have demonstrated different game plans with varying degrees of intent to use the ball, when push comes to shove they revert to type in big games against the rest of the best.

The Springboks are a dangerous counter-attacking unit. They love broken fields from kick contests and prey on opposition errors. But that style is reactive, relies on a rock solid defence first, and a Sun Tzu mentality of letting your opposition make the mistakes and being the one to avoid them.

During the big knockout win over France at the Rugby World Cup, Les Blues were undone by their own incompetence and this strategy by South Africa.

A spilled aerial ball bounced right into the path of Kurt-Lee Arendse for a gift seven points. Another dropped high ball resulted in a try for Damian de Allende. A poor handling error resulted in Jesse Kriel threading a grubber kick in for Cheslin Kolbe on the counter phase.

When it was all said and done, 19 critical points were thrown away by the French. The Springboks took full advantage, but France were their own worst enemies. And that’s the game Erasmus wants to play for the most part.

Low risk, low error rugby, playing power when needed through the maul and scrum and trying to open up a team through the air for counter opportunities.

If Tony Brown wants to open up the playbook, play more possession-based rugby, try something more complicated than a De Allende hit-up on first phase, how long does it last if South Africa become an error-strewn circus again?

This is the conundrum for the Springboks and the oncoming struggle for autonomy between Brown and Erasmus. Will the big man be the director or the dictator? The Lion doesn’t need advice from Kiwi sheep after all.

However, if Brown does change their game the move could certainly pay off as the Springboks search for success outside of World Cups in 2024.

In every full version of the Rugby Championship under Erasmus and Nienaber, they’ve lost the title to New Zealand in 2018, 2021 and 2022. They’ve been under 40 per cent against the other big five nations in between World Cup years.

Their game outside of the major tournament has simply not worked.

If they win more trophies and a find higher win rate than 62 per cent, they’ll finally become a historically great side, rather than one that has a historically great achievement, back-to-back World Cups.

That risk is worth taking and giving Brown a shot to shape the Springboks with a New Zealand view could be the answer. Just don’t tear him down too much if it all falls apart.