Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

The 'bit of responsibility' Mike Brown has taken on at Harlequins training as he awaits his appeal hearing on Wednesday night

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Mike Brown is back in training at Harlequins in the hope that his career at the London club might not yet be over despite his six-game ban. Sent off for stamping on May 9, the veteran full-back learned his fate three days later after he sat in on an independent disciplinary hearing that was virtually held the previous evening.  

ADVERTISEMENT

Set to join Newcastle on a two-year deal, the six-game suspension meant that he had played his final match for Quins as the most games the club could have between then and the end of this season was six if they reached the Gallagher Premiership final.

Brown’s stamp on Wasps’ Tommy Taylor was deemed to be at the top end of the foul play scale, resulting in the entry point of twelve games that was reduced to six when 50 per cent mitigation was applied. 

Video Spacer

Scotland’s Ali Price on the moment he learned that he was a 2021 Lions pick

Video Spacer

Scotland’s Ali Price on the moment he learned that he was a 2021 Lions pick

That seemed to be the best outcome that could have been wished for, given the stamp was categorised as a top-end offence. However, Harlequins announced on May 20 that it was their intention to appeal the suspension and the Brown case will be held this Wednesday evening, May 26, by a new online independent disciplinary panel comprising Philip Evans (chair), with Daniel White and Julian Morris.

It appears that if Brown is to successfully have his sanction reduced, it would likely need the foul play to be reclassified as a middle-end offence where the pattern of punishment this season at hearings has been for a six-game entry point to be reduced to a three-match ban once the 50 per cent mitigation is applied. 

This would free Brown for Harlequins’ final match of the regular season and allow him to go on and be in contention for semi-final selection, but that scenario seems a longshot ahead of the appeal.  “I’m not clued up on how possible that is,” admitted assistant coach Nick Evans. “I can’t really comment too much on that. We will have to wait and see and hopefully for him it works out… it’s hard to comment, it’s out of my hands. I’m sure he will go in with the best intentions and we will see what happens.”

In the meantime, Brown has been back on the training ground in Guildford trying to be of whatever assistance he can be to a team that is in fourth place on the table with three rounds of regular-season games remaining, starting versus Bath on Saturday.    

ADVERTISEMENT

“He [Brown] had a bit of time off. He had a couple of days to process everything but he has come back in. He is training with us and we have given him a bit of responsibility around the back three, high ball work which he is world-class at,” explained Evans. 

“It’s good to have him in and around the group. He has got a wealth of experience and he wants to see us achieve what he thinks we can achieve, so having him around the group is good especially for the young back three. Tyrone (Green) has moved back there, we have Louis Lynagh coming back from injury, so having someone like Mike Brown around to help the younger guys in these money months is going to be crucial for us.

“It’s really unfortunate that it has turned out in this way. The best respect and the best thing that we can do for him is to go ahead and do the best we can. The first job is to beat Bath on Saturday and then go from there. But if we could send him off in unbelievably incredible style then that is what we will try to do.”

 

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

F
Flankly 56 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith' Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith'
Search