If the All Blacks send Tony Brown an SOS he should go with our thanks

When New Zealand Rugby (NZR) sacked coach Scott Robertson in early January, the speculation turned to who would succeed him — and you didn’t have to be a rugby aficionado to put two and two together and come up with Jamie Joseph.

The former All Black flanker and current Highlanders coach is well regarded, tough as Karoo biltong and the perfect man, steeped in All Black mana, to do the job.

Of course, there are other contenders such as former Chiefs and Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, former All Black coach Wayne Smith and former Ireland and Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt.

But Joseph’s name keeps coming up. Speculation was further fuelled when he was absent from the Highlanders’ pre-season training for a couple of days this week. Players were told to carry on with individual training programmes.

Was Joseph meeting with NZR hierarchy, who have put themselves under pressure to find a replacement quickly? No one was saying, but it was an odd moment for a coach to go awol.

The 2026 Test season is not exactly dotted with easy fixtures for a new coach to find his feet while also plotting an assault on Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia, which is only 20 months away.

The amount of work a Test coach needs to get through in the first six months of the year is mountainous — from analysing player data, to working out the logistics of a campaign — and every day wasted lowers the chances of success.

NZR has put itself under immense pressure to find a replacement quickly. Joseph has the additional benefit of technically already being employed by NZR as a franchise coach. It would require only a small reshuffle to redeploy him to the top job.

Joseph coached the All Blacks XV (essentially their second team) on a short tour to Britain late last year as well.

Moving Joseph into the top job would be the easy part, which would largely be welcomed in New Zealand. The hard part is when it comes to assistant coaches, because every head coach wants to choose his lieutenants.

The Brown conundrum

Which leads to Tony Brown, the Boks’ attack coach. He is a former All Blacks star who has a long working relationship and friendship with Joseph.

The pair have coached together at the Highlanders and were also in a partnership as coaches of Japan’s national team, which led them to the quarterfinals of RWC 2019, playing a striking brand of rugby.

They worked as a coaching partnership in Super Rugby that took the Highlanders to the 2015 title, and also coached the Sunwolves franchise in Super Rugby.

Brown twice turned down the All Blacks’ assistant coaching role under Ian Foster and Robertson because he was loyal to Joseph, who was overlooked for the head coaching position on those occasions.

With that kind of loyalty to his mate, what are the chances of Brown turning Joseph down if Joseph is appointed as head coach in the coming days and sends an SOS to his old sidekick to help him?

Brown is under contract to the Boks until RWC 2027. He told New Zealand media that he didn’t have a “get out” clause in his Bok contract if the All Blacks came calling.

“I don’t have an ‘out’ of my contract, so I’m back in South Africa [until the World Cup],” Brown told the Otago Daily Times.

“Everything’s just speculation. I’m not even sure what New Zealand Rugby’s plans are. No one’s really heard anything.”

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus further tried to cool speculation that Brown might jump ship with a post on social media showing a picture of Brown with the caption “not leaving”.

Right now, that does seem like the case. Brown has a contract, and Joseph has not been appointed as All Blacks coach — yet.

But contracts are never watertight.

Turning heads

In early 2017, when Erasmus and his right-hand man Jacques Nienaber were coaching Munster in Ireland, stories emerged that the South African Rugby Union had sent out feelers about Erasmus becoming Bok coach.

This was while Allister Coetzee was little more than a year into the job.

Erasmus denied the reports at the time, calling them “speculation”.

His lawyer Frikkie Erasmus even came out to deflect the speculation.

“Rassie has a contract with Munster and won’t travel to South Africa for discussions while doing so well with Munster,” Frikkie Erasmus told rugby365.com on 21 January 2017.

“Rassie is very happy in Ireland. He doesn’t have to deal with interference, as is the case in South Africa. He still has plenty of time left on his contract, which is a very good one.”

By April, the rumours continued to swirl, and Rassie Erasmus denied them while not entirely ruling out a move to the Boks.

“It’s really speculation, and when something is really definite, I will tell you guys,” Erasmus told the42.ie at the time.

“It’s not something internally that we have talked about because it is not an issue at this stage.”

A few months later, Erasmus was appointed as Saru’s director of rugby, and Nienaber followed.

This is not to say Erasmus was devious, but rather to highlight that when emotional and national heartstrings are pulled, positions change quickly.

Brown has a Bok contract for another 22 months and almost certainly has every intention of honouring it.

Similarly, Saru has every intention of honouring Brown’s contract and probably has every intention of enforcing it if things change.

Brown has transformed the team’s attacking play and, by any metric, has been a success.

No one can question the quality of Brown’s work, nor his commitment to the Boks and, by extension, South African rugby. But he is human, and he is a New Zealander with a strong connection to the All Blacks and to his best friend.

If Joseph and the NZR come calling for Brown’s services, it will put the 51-year-old in a tough position.

If he is asked to join the All Blacks to resurrect their ailing fortunes alongside his best mate with the carrot of World Cup glory and a full Test series against the Boks to come (in 2026), how can he say no?

If his head is turned in any way, what would be the benefit for Saru of forcing him to honour his contract?

Any executive will tell you that when someone has been swayed by a new opportunity and challenge, you’ve lost them, and it’s best to both move on.

Brown’s head hasn’t been turned from the Boks yet, but it might. And if it is, we should let him go with our best wishes and thanks for the stellar job he has done for the Boks since the start of 2025. DM