Highlanders need point of difference, Brown says
RUGBY
HIGHLANDERS coach Tony Brown admits he was always going to be a better coach than a player and says the Highlanders have to play differently than everyone else to be successful next year.
Brown also outlined how close he came to death in Japan after he ruptured his pancreas more than 10 years ago.
Brown, in a wideranging interview on Sky Sport this week, said he had grown as a coach in the past couple of years and felt comfortable in the job.
Last season’s side had talent but suffered from a lack of real quality experience.
He hoped to have rectified that next season but the first task for the Highlanders was to create an environment in which everyone wanted to come to work on Monday.
‘‘I think the Highlanders play their best rugby when they at the extreme. We are not quite good enough to play within ourselves to beat sides.
‘‘We have to got to back ourselves and play to 100% to win games,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to get the right environment and identity for the team. Create that and make it strong. Then we will build our rugby off the back of that.’’
Brown said if the Highlanders played in the traditional way through physicality and dominating the set piece, a sound kicking game and squeezing the opposition, as most New Zealand sides did, they would not be able to beat the four other New Zealand Super Rugby sides.
So the team had to play differently. It had to express itself, speed the game up and try different things in the game. He said when Ben and Aaron Smith used to play at the highest level everyone was carried along by it.
Brown as a player was not flashy and was physical for a first fiveeighth.
‘‘I was pretty limited in what I could do and always believed I would be a better coach than a player. I saw the game differently than a lot of people.’’
That has moved into his coaching as he seeks the way forward for the Highlanders.
Highlanders halfback Folau Fakatava was praised by Brown for his performance for Hawke’s Bay in the Mitre 10 Cup and Brown was looking forward to Fakatava making an impact for the Highlanders next season.
‘‘In the past, Folau was perhaps a bit of an individual player but this year he created all this space for Hawke’s Bay. He was massive for them and everybody was playing off him.’’
He said with Aaron Smith bound to have to miss games next year, Fakatava would get his chance.
He also spoke of the need for first fiveeighth Josh Ioane to turn up trim and fit at the start of preseason next month.
Noone attacked the line better than Ioane at first fiveeighth but he had to be fit and wearing the rightsize shorts.
Brown also outlined his battle after suffering a ruptured pancreas in 2008 when he was hit while playing.
He said it was 5050 at one stage whether he was going to survive the surgery and he was rushed from one hospital to another in Japan.
Another patient next to him, who had the same ailment, ended up dying. But luckily Brown pulled through although it took him a while.
He was in hospital for recovery for six weeks and walked out of the hospital weighing just 72kg.