At any other period in New Zealand rugby history Tony Brown may have been feted among the great first five eighths of the game. But it was his misfortune to coincide his career with two consummate masters, Andrew Mehrtens and Carlos Spencer, and so for the most part he was in their respective shadows.

Yet he still had a worthy career with Otago, the Highlanders and for three seasons between 1999 and 2001, if mainly in a backup role, was a regular member of All Black squads.

A product of Kaitangata in south Otago, as the All Black first five of the 1950s, Laurie Haig, had been, Brown first came to prominence as an Otago representative in 1995. Though competing then with the dual All Black-Manu Samoa international Stephen Bachop, Brown was quickly established at NPC level and was preferred for that year’s final against Auckland at Eden Park.

In 1996 he began his lengthy Super 12 stint with the Highlanders and was soon recognised at national level with selection for the New Zealand Colts and, even though he had a fair complexion and blond hair, New Zealand Maori sides.

Further national honours for New Zealand "A" in 1998 saw him promoted ahead of Spencer as the first five understudy to Mehrtens for the 1999 season. In his test debut against Samoa at North Harbour Stadium he scored 26 points and then in the World Cup pool match against Italy later in the season he scored 36 points.

In each of the opening tests of the next two seasons, against Tonga in 2000 and Samoa in 2001, Brown again scored heavily, with 32 against the Tongans and then 30, including three tries, against the Samoans.

But apart from France in 2001 and the first two tri-nations tests soon after Brown was used for most of his test career in either the 'softer' early season tests or off the bench. And, indeed, for the 2000 end of season tours, with Mehrtens and Spencer being preferred for the main expedition, he was relegated to the New Zealand 'A' team’s European trip.

Of the 18 tests in which he appeared for the All Blacks 11 were from the bench as a replacement or substitute.

And when he became bothered by a persistent hamstring injury in 2001 and 2002, which sidelined him for all of the NPC in the latter season, he forfeited his All Black place behind Mehrtens and a resurgent Spencer. But he still had a significant international record and with his accurate goalkicking and a harvest of points in matches against Tonga, Samoa and Italy finished with a respectable test aggregate of 171.

There was much more to Brown’s game, though, than competent goalkicking. Despite being much the same physique as Mehrtens he was a tigerish, fearless defender often collaring much bigger opponents. He was also a sound first five eighths, with a judicious tactical book, a reliable distributor and an accurate support player.

When he accepted an offer to play overseas at the end of the 2004 Super 12 Brown had been easily the Highlanders’ most prolific points scorer.

His 83 Super 12 matches had brought him 817 points. In 71 matches for Otago he scored 847 points. In an overall first class career of 193 matches he finished with 1941 points.

In 2006 Brown returned to New Zealand rugby, but only as a member of the Durban based Sharks Super 14 team.

Profile courtesy Lindsay Knight.

FULL NAME

Tony Eion Brown

BORN

Friday, 17 January 1975 in Balclutha

AGE

35

PHYSICAL

1.77m, 85kg

POSITION

First five-eighth

LAST SCHOOL

King's High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Harbour

PROVINCE

Otago

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Friday, 11 June 1999
v New Zealand 'A' at Christchurch
aged 24 years, 145 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Friday, 18 June 1999
v Samoa at Albany
aged 24 years, 152 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 11 August 2001
v Australia at Dunedin
aged 26 years, 206 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

18 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

1 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

19 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

171pts (5t, 43c, 20p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

7pts (0t, 2c, 1p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

178pts (5t, 45c, 21p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

980

The All Black Games that Brown played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1999

 11 Jun vs New Zealand 'A' at Christchurch 22-11  

 18 Jun vs Samoa at Albany 71-13  

 26 Jun vs France at Wellington 54-7 (+) 

 10 Jul vs South Africa at Dunedin 28-0 (+) 

 24 Jul vs Australia at Auckland 34-15 (+) 

 28 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 7-28 (+) 

 9 Oct vs England at London 30-16 (+) 

 14 Oct vs Italy at Huddersfield 101-3  

 24 Oct vs Scotland at Edinburgh 30-18 (+) 

2000

 16 Jun vs Tonga at Albany 102-0  

 1 Jul vs Scotland at Auckland 48-14 (+) 

 15 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 39-35 (+) 

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 25-12 (+) 

 5 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 23-24 (+) 

2001

 16 Jun vs Samoa at Albany 50-6  

 23 Jun vs Argentina at Christchurch 67-19 (+) 

 30 Jun vs France at Wellington 37-12  

 21 Jul vs South Africa at Cape Town 12-3  

 11 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 15-23 (-) 

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs New Zealand 'A', 11 Jun 1999

-

2

1

-

7

vs Samoa, 18 Jun 1999

-

7

4

-

26

vs South Africa, 10 Jul 1999

-

1

-

-

2

vs Italy, 14 Oct 1999

1

11

3

-

36

vs Tonga, 16 Jun 2000

1

12

1

-

32

vs Scotland, 1 Jul 2000

-

1

-

-

2

vs South Africa, 22 Jul 2000

-

-

1

-

3

vs Samoa, 16 Jun 2001

3

3

3

-

30

vs Argentina, 23 Jun 2001

-

4

-

-

8

vs France, 30 Jun 2001

-

4

3

-

17

vs South Africa, 21 Jul 2001

-

-

4

-

12

vs Australia, 11 Aug 2001

-

-

1

-

3

Totals

5

45

21

0

178

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

1

1

-

-

-

4

-

-

8

Australia

5

2

-

3

-

-

1

-

3

England

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

2

2

-

-

-

4

3

-

17

Italy

1

1

-

-

1

11

3

-

36

Samoa

2

2

-

-

3

10

7

-

56

Scotland

2

2

-

-

-

1

-

-

2

South Africa

3

3

-

-

-

1

5

-

17

Tonga

1

1

-

-

1

12

1

-

32

Totals

18

15

0

3

5

43

20

0

171