England can win World Cup if Eddie takes off the shackles

Paul Rees talks to Newcastle full-back Mike Brown about his hopes for club and county

Mike Brown has started a new phase in his playing career at a time when most of his contemporaries have unlaced their boots. The England and Newcastle full-back is 36 years young, bursting with the same aspirations and enthusiasm he had when he made his debut for Harlequins as a teenager in 2005.

Brown left Quins, the club where he had envisaged spending his entire senior career, in the summer after being deemed too old to merit a new contract. Not long after, Cristiano Ronaldo, his senior by seven months, made a muchheralded return to Manchester United on a two-year contract worth several million pounds with the option of a third.

“When you reach a certain age, people start going on about the next best thing and talk about you as if you are about to fall off a cliff,” said Brown, who made a try-scoring Premiership debut for Newcastle at Saracens last week. “They think you cannot do it any more, but some of the best sports people in the world are at least well into their 30s and still some of the best in the game: Ronaldo, Tom Brady, Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to name a few. Then there is Jimmy Gopperth at Wasps, still winning matches, and Nick Easter scored a try hat-trick for England when he was 37.

“The obsession should not be with age but what a player is producing. I feel good and can still do it mentally and physically. It should not matter how old I am, but certain people get preoccupied by it and it was ultimately why I left my last club, which was unfortunate. Just look around the world of sport and see what people of my age and older are doing.”

Brown is looking to the future by entering the world of agents, believing that the current system, with some exceptions, does not work for players outside the negotiation of contracts. It should not be taken as a sign that he is thinking about bringing his 16 years as a player to an end.

“Retiring any time soon is not on my mind,” he said. “This was an opportunity that came up and there are other things I want to pursue as well. I am enjoying being at Newcastle and my family have settled in well here. The only downside was a little rib-fracture I picked up in a pre-season game which delayed by league start, but it was good to have a nice easy opener against Saracens!

“Some of the best sports people in the world are at least well into their 30s”

“A try on debut was pleasing, but I would rather have won the game. We could have got something out of it and it came down to small margins which showed where we need to improve. There is so much potential here and we are aspiring to win big. Get the little things right, and we will get there. We have given Harlequins and Saracens a fright in the last few weeks and we are yet to hit our stride fully with players to come back.”

Far from thinking about when he will make his final appearance, Brown has not extinguished the hope that he will add to his 72 England caps. Never mind whether his ambition is realistic, it adds to the fire of one of the most competitive and driven players of any era.

“I loved my time in the England shirt and I would not turn down a call from Eddie Jones,” said Brown, “but there is some talent in the 15 jersey with Freddie Steward and Max Malins just a couple of names to talk about. All I would say is never write anyone off.

Quade Cooper is back in Australia's side at the age of 33 and justifying his place. Players can definitely go back into the England side at a certain age and prove themselves.”

Brown says he is an England fan now, anticipating an autumn campaign rather more exciting and fulfilling than the one last year with Jones having picked a number of dynamic young players in his squad last month, not least Brown's former outside-half colleague at Harlequins, Marcus Smith.

“Marcus is on his way to becoming the world class player he has the potential to be,” said Brown. “I hope he is given the opportunity in the white jersey: he just needs a team built around him with a framework that suits him, one that would allow him to flourish.

“Eddie has an exciting group of players: chuck a few older boys in and they will be a decent team. I just hope they are allowed to express themselves and show what they are about. That does not mean playing Fiji Sevens rugby because there always has to be a balance between attack and defence, but if they are shackled to a restrictive gameplan, it would be a waste, in my opinion.

“England have the potential to win the World Cup, but no one knows what Eddie is thinking, apart from him. He is an interesting character, to put it mildly. Who knows what he will do, but rugby in England is turning a bit and now has more of a balance between attack and defence, even if Harlequins and Bristol last week produced a bit of a basketball scoreline which you do not want to see too much of the time.”

When England kicked their way to success in last year's Autumn Nations Cup, their tactics were based on the game being in a defensive cycle with adventurous rugby carrying a high load of risk given refereeing interpretations. Jones now believes that, two years out from the World Cup in France, World Rugby is encouraging a bolder approach and he has tweaked his squad accordingly.

“I hope Eddie gives the players the framework to attack this autumn”

“My frustration with Eddie then was he was talking about the game being in a defensive stage,” Brown says. “I thought, being the world class coach he is and his deep knowledge, why with the players at his disposal not be the team that says we are going to change this cycle to an attacking one?

“I hope he gives the players the framework to attack this autumn. If the Lions had played a bit more rugby rather than try to take on South Africa at their own game in the summer, they would probably have clinched the series.

When Quins won the title last season, we kicked the ball more than most. It was to put teams under pressure and try to create unstructured play rather than doing it for the sake of it and letting the opposition have the ball back. It was an attacking weapon.”

Talking of attacking weapons, Newcastle's wing Adam Radwan, who scored a try hat-trick on his England debut against Canada in the summer, was named the Premiership's player of the month last week and Brown has been tasked with mentoring one of the game's quickest players.

“He is an unbelievable athlete,” said Brown. “I will try to help him with bits of his game, such as positioning and the mental side. He can become one of the top wings in the world and he is so athletic. He is one of the reasons why I am excited by what the future holds for Newcastle.

“We tend to get left to ourselves which means people do not see much of the potential here. We can achieve a lot as a team if we have confidence and belief and go for it. I am relishing it here and can't wait to get down to St James's Park and savour the atmosphere now Newcastle United are in new hands… my four-year old son Jax is starting to pick up the Geordie accent!”