Springboks attack coach Tony Brown revealed he has no clause in his contract to allow him to coach in New Zealand, nor has anyone contacted him.
The 51-year-old was speaking publicly for the first time since Scott Robertson was sacked as New Zealand head coach midway through his four-year contract.
While none of Robertson’s assistants have so far got the boot, his successor may want to bring in his own coaching team.
Jamie Joseph is the favourite to take New Zealand into the next Rugby World Cup in Australia and he has often formed a double act with Brown.
Some were speculating whether the assistant has a clause which would allow New Zealand Rugby to prize him away from South Africa, but he confirmed that there isn’t.
“I’m obviously contracted. I don’t have an ‘out’ of my contract, so I’m back in South Africa [until the Rugby World Cup],” Brown told New Zealand’s The Post.
NZR could of course approach SA Rugby and negotiate a deal to take him back home, but that would likely involve a significant compensation fee.
Even if something can be agreed, it would still require Brown himself to want to leave his job at the back-to-back world champions, where he has become a valuable member of the coaching team under Rassie Erasmus.
The attack coach did not rule anything out but, as things stand, he has not been contacted by the New Zealand governing body about the matter.
“Everything’s just speculation. I’m not even sure what New Zealand Rugby’s plans are. No one’s really heard anything,” he added.
As for NZR’s decision to sack Robertson just under two years out from the World Cup in Australia, Brown stated that he was shocked by the decision.
The Crusaders legend, who won seven Super Rugby titles as their head honcho, left the role after presiding over 20 wins in 27 games – a 74 per cent win rate.
“I’m very surprised. I didn’t think they would do that, especially with no one waiting to take over,” Brown said.
“[It’s] definitely not [going to be easy] for them [to find a replacement], especially without a CEO and high-performance manager, so there’s lots of things for them to get sorted pretty quickly.
“All the [Springboks] coaches have been chatting on chat groups and things like that, so everyone’s pretty surprised and amazed at what’s been happening.”
