Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Interesting': Agen have broken silence on Mike Brown speculation

(Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Agen have broken silence on speculation linking them to signing Mike Brown, the ex-England full-back who is a free agent ahead of the 2022/23 season after he was released by Newcastle following a one-year stay. The soon-to-be 37-year-old was snapped up by Dean Richards in 2021 when he was cut loose by Harlequins, the London club where he had spent his entire career.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was March when Brown revealed that he wouldn’t be kept on by the Falcons, who have since promoted Dave Walder as their boss with Richards stepping away after a decade as director of rugby. At the time Brown emotionally spoke to BT Sport about his fears about being left without a job.

“This is not a poor me but it is the side of professional sport that people don’t see… I signed a one-plus-one which is a typical contract for a player of my age at this stage of my career, which means the first year is guaranteed and the second year is if they still want you basically.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

“November time, Deano and I had a conversation and as far as I was aware I was staying for the second year, and the next few months things changed. He brought me in and said that now wasn’t the case and I’m in a position now where I’m trying to find a new club.”

That search has yet to be successful in a market complicated by upwards of 100 players apparently being released across the Gallagher Premiership at the end of the 2021/22 season due to the reduced salary cap.

Related

Sale, Worcester and Ealing were English clubs that Brown was linked with, but the Sharks connection died a death on Wednesday when the Manchester outfit confirmed they had signed ex-Gloucester full-back Jason Woodward on a one-year deal. The former Quins stalwart was also linked with Agen, the Pro D2 French club whose president Jean-Francois Fonteneau has now reacted to that speculation.

Speaking to sudouest.fr ahead of the second-tier campaign in France that begins for Agen with an August 26 trip to Provence, Fonteneau said about Brown: “To date, it’s a rumour but it’s an interesting profile.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Brown wouldn’t be the first ex-Harlequins player to join Agen in recent seasons if the link turned out to be more than speculation. Harry Sloan, who had six seasons at The Stoop before exiting in 2018/19 for Ealing, is preparing for his second season with the Pro D2 club while Gabriel Ibitoye, who was recently signed by Bristol in the off-season, had an ill-fated time at Agen after he joined in 2020 when they were still a Top 14 club.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 8 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Tommy Seymour: ‘I'm just glad I'm not playing now. There's an embarrassment of riches’ Tommy Seymour: ‘I'm just glad I'm not playing now. There's an embarrassment of riches’
Search