The Harlequins full-back Mike Brown still believes England’s players need to hold their own clear-the-air meeting in the wake of the Rugby World Cup despite the appointment of Eddie Jones as their new head coach. Brown feels trust within the squad needs restoring in the wake of the tournament after confidential dressing-room details and anonymous complaints by certain players reached the public domain.
Jones has made clear he will be looking forward rather than back when he takes over officially on Tuesday but Brown remains keen for the squad to get together in the new year and stress the importance of team unity. “I’m sure we will have a chat and put things to bed once everyone’s met up, whoever’s involved,” said the 30‑year‑old. “That’s fine, it happens all the time in teams, whether you’re reviewing something or looking forward. I’m sure we’ll talk about the World Cup and then swiftly move on.”
Earlier this month Brown suggested any sense of squad trust had been “completely shot” by the post-tournament fallout, adding that players had not performed sufficiently well to point fingers at anyone.
Conor O’Shea, Harlequins’ director of rugby, believes his full-back has done England a favour by speaking out in the forthright manner he did. “I loved him coming out and saying what he said,” O’Shea said. “It’s out in the open. In a funny way it’s shot a lot of things up but that’s Browny. People said to me: ‘Will it be tough when they come back together?’ Actually it’s going to be easier. It had to be said, otherwise they’d all be sitting around the room going: ‘Who said that?’”
Brown, for his part, says he does not care who coaches England as long as the team start winning consistently but has welcomed the hiring of the experienced Jones. “I only know what I’ve seen his teams do which, on the whole, is incredible things,” said Brown, who has won 43 caps for England. “I know he expects hard work and is an honest bloke so I hope I get to work with him. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who’s in charge. I just want to win and be involved in an England team that’s winning. Hopefully he can bring something that can help us do that.”
Among Jones’s first tasks will be to settle on his assistant coaches and assess the talent who did not feature in Stuart Lancaster’s World Cup squad. Brown is confident the Australian will not take long to sift the resources at his disposal. “I’m sure someone like Eddie makes sure he watches rugby from all over the world. He’ll know exactly what’s going on and I’m sure he knows all the players playing regularly for their clubs or country.”
Brown, who will make his 250th appearance for Harlequins on Saturday, will be 34 by the time the 2019 World Cup kicks off but O’Shea is backing him to remain an international player for the foreseeable future. “You can become very ageist but he’s the consummate pro,” said O’Shea. “He’ll be the same age as Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu at the next World Cup. He looks after himself incredibly and he’s competitive … he wants a truckload of caps and that World Cup will drive him both demented and on. Holding him back is the bigger issue.”
O’Shea, whose side travel to Exeter in the Premiership on Saturday, nevertheless has some sympathy for Jones given the large number of candidates trying to press their Test claims. Even at club level, O’Shea reckons a head coach will always struggle to satisfy everyone. “We have 51 players … 15 are happy while 36 have a voodoo doll of me and stick pins in it.”
