New Bok attack coach Tony Brown muses aloud about Ireland’s halfbacks with first verbal jab of tour

Handrè Pollard of the Springboks kicks a penalty during The Rugby Championship match between South Africa and New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park on August 13, 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images)

By Craig Ray

2 Jul 2024

The Springboks versus Ireland is the most anticipated series this July and the verbal sparring has started.

There hasn’t really been a war of words to mark the start of Ireland’s tour to South Africa as you might expect with the No 1 and 2 sides in the world ready to have a go at each other.

But new Bok attack coach Tony Brown managed to slip in a little sharp punch. Like a boxing match, it might go unnoticed in the bobbing and weaving of the “feeling out” process. But it was there all the same.

“[scrumhalf] Jamison Gibson-Park has been massive for them,” Brown said. “I think he plays the game faster than Conor Murray, so that’s allowed Ireland to be dominant and play the game at speed.”

Gibson-Park is injured and Murray is set to start at scrumhalf for Ireland in the series. The Boks pointing out that Ireland have lost their main momentum driver was obvious.

But it was also a way of putting a little pressure on the ageing Murray.

And then Brown threw another little body punch.

Bok attack Conor Murray of Ireland during the Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on 11 June 2016. (Photo: Luke Walker / Gallo Images)

Jack Crowley of Emerging Ireland during their match against Griquas at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on 30 September 2022. (Photo: Johan Pretorius / Gallo Images)

“With Johnny Sexton, who was probably Ireland’s greatest player, retiring after the World Cup, it’s left a massive hole for Ireland,” Brown said.

“I think the young Jack Crowley has done a fantastic job. He’s been really dominant in the Six Nations and looks like a fantastic player for Munster.

“He doesn’t seem nervous on the field at all. I think he’s fitted in pretty nicely.”

Translation: “Mr Crowley, can you do it at Loftus in front of 52,000 South Africans against a fired-up Boks?”

There was a time when Murray was the best halfback in the world – peaking around 2017 when he performed superbly for the British & Irish Lions in New Zealand.

Jack Crowley of Emerging Ireland in action against Griquas in Bloemfontein on 30 September 2022. (Photo: Johan Pretorius / Gallo Images)

Murray was even named stand-in captain for the Covid-hit 2021 Lions tour to South Africa after Alun Wyn Jones was injured, but he only played a fringe part in that campaign.

Brown’s comment was not massively insightful because anyone with a passing interest in rugby knows that Gibson-Park has been brilliant for the past few years. He rivals Antoine Dupont in most areas, and there can be no higher praise than that. But it was a shot across the bows for Murray.

Murray may be slower and less explosive than JGP, but he has a superb rugby brain that is boosted by more than 100 Test caps of experience. He will know how to play the percentages, but will it be enough, especially if his forwards are not providing the dominance he needs?

Handrè Pollard is tackled during the Springboks' Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 12 August 2022. (Photo: Lee Warren / Gallo Images)

Better attack?

The Boks are increasingly a team capable of playing the game at a high tempo. Brown’s influence will increase in the coming weeks and months but there is little doubt that his mandate is to make the Boks feared as much with the ball, as they are without it.

Attack, especially behind a pack that seldom, if ever in the past five years, has gone backwards for sustained periods, should be formidable.

And at times in the past few seasons the Boks have torn teams apart with their new breed of attack-minded players such as flyhalf Manie Libbok, centre Lukhanyo Am, wings Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie and fullback Damian Willemse.

The skills and the talent are there, and it’s now about unlocking that flair more regularly.

Brown singled out flyhalf Handrè Pollard as a man he would like to see take his game up a level. Pollard probably has very little left to prove with two outstanding World Cup campaigns on his CV.

Brown’s public musing about Pollard’s attacking was therefore interesting. It’s almost surely a way of challenging a player who has achieved so much – about giving him a new goal that supersedes just winning and losing.

Handrè Pollard kicks a penalty during a Rugby Championship match between South Africa and New Zealand at Ellis Park on 13 August 2022. (Photo: Gordon Arons / Gallo Images)

“We’ve tried a few things and got them to do different stuff. With Handrè being a little bit older and has been around a long time,” Brown said of the entire flyhalf contingent in the Boks squad, which includes Libbok, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Jordan Hendrikse.

“I’m hoping that with a bit more time we can build a good partnership and get him [Pollard] playing some really exciting rugby.

“When I watched him play Under-20 rugby, he was the most dominant flyhalf at the gain line in the world as a 20-year-old.

“If we can get him back to playing that sort of footy, that would be amazing.

“Guys like Manie, Sacha and Jordan, they play the game a little bit differently. Understanding them as players and them understanding me as a coach will develop over time.

“The best thing from my view is they’ve all got amazing skill sets. They can all push themselves and challenge themselves to be better players. It’s exciting for me. Hopefully it’s exciting for them to get coached in a different way.” DM

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Better attack?