‘A lot of us old guys, we have learnt a lot over the past year through Tony. So it is incredible to see the development of the forwards especially.’
Springbok centre Damian de Allende has sung the praises of attack coach Tony Brown, who he said has enhanced the national side’s attacking game since joining the Bok setup at the beginning of 2024.
De Allende said Brown, a former New Zealand flyhalf who played most of his provincial rugby for the Highlanders, has taught old dogs new tricks, especially outside of set-piece play.
‘Rugby is changing’
“Not just for myself but for us as a whole group, and us as a rugby-playing country, it was massively important to get someone like Tony Brown in,” the Springbok veteran said. “To test our skills and to teach us new skills. To teach us how to move the ball before contact and where to move the ball.
“Rugby is changing, the rules are changing. You can see it already. In some of the competitions, the refs don’t want to give penalties anymore at scrum time. So I think they are trying to make the game more dynamic.
“We have to improve and develop our game [because] even if we get dominance at scrum time, we might not get the penalty. So we might have to just be ready to be able to play rugby like Tony Brown wants us to play.”
Tony Brown takes Springboks from strength to strength
De Allende, at 33 and with 87 Test caps under his belt, said even players as experienced as him had learned much under the former All Black.
“And we are on the right path. That is the most important thing. A lot of us old guys, we have learnt a lot over the past year through Tony. So it is incredible to see the development of the forwards especially, with their skills.
“I think this year we will go from strength to strength but by next year and the year after going into the [2027] World Cup I think it is going to be a very exciting time for South African rugby with the development around the players around Tony Brown.”
The Boks kicked off their 2025 season with a big win against the invitational Barbarians in Cape Town last weekend and this week face Italy in the first of two Tests in Pretoria. They also face Georgia in a one-off Test before turning their attention to the Rugby Championship, where they are the defending champions.