Mike Brown may reunite with Dean Richards at Newcastle Falcons

NEWCASTLE Falcons have asked veteran former England full-back Mike Brown if he plans to extend his career beyond this season.

Brown, who turned 35 in September, has spent the whole of his professional career with Harlequins after making his debut for them almost 16 years ago. Brown, who was a member of the Quins side that beat Leicester Tigers in the 2012 Premiership final, is closing in on 350 appearances for the Twickenham Stoop outfit.

Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards is keen to reunite with Brown whom he brought through the ranks as Harlequins boss before resigning after the Bloodgate scandal.

He sees him as a senior figure who can maintain Falcons' healthy progress in the Premiership after their promotion from the Championship.

Brown, son-in-law of the former Arsenal and England striker Tony Woodcock, is renown for his will-to-win and no-nonsense approach and has long been part of the Quins inner cabinet together with other senior players like the nowretired Chris Robshaw and scrum-half Danny Care.

Quins boss Paul Gustard knows that re-signing Brown won't be cheap and he has in-house replacements for the No.15 jersey like former England U20 international Aaron Morris, Ross Chisholm and Chris Ashton.

Brown has made 72 appearances for England, playing his last match against South Africa in June 2018.

Richards has been keen to find out more about his plans before launching a bid to take him to the North East for what could be a swansong season before potentially moving into coaching.

Richards has had only limited resources to strengthen his Falcons side but that has not stopped them winning their opening three Premiership games this season before suffering defeat at Bristol on New Year's Day.

Meanwhile, Richards has been mentioned as a potential target for Sale Sharks to replace Steve Diamond if they fail to prise No.1 choice Alex Sanderson away from Saracens.

NEIL FISSLER