Nick Easter: My pal Mike Brown’s always been this good
Brown’s three performances at full-back ensure that he is the one back who appears sure of his place in the countdown to the 2015 World Cup.
But it has been a long time coming. Recalled from the wilderness by Lancaster in February last year, Brown started at full-back once in his 13 subsequent appearances.
But he shone at No.15 in Argentina last summer and backed it up by being named England’s man of the series this autumn.
Plenty of theories exist as to Brown’s development – working with sprint guru Margot Wells or shedding his Mr Angry tag among them – but 47-cap Easter, 35, claims nothing has changed since his England debut in 2007.
He said: “It was the early stages of my international career as well when Mike made his debut and it seemed that was going to be his only chance.
“There was not anything new about that Mike Brown we saw this autumn, he has trained and played with that competitiveness and that intensity for a long time now.
“His form for Quins has always been excellent and we’re all delighted he’s getting his chance at last.”
Having made his debut under Brian Ashton on the ill-fated 2007 tour to South Africa, Brown fell out of favour after the 2008 trip to New Zealand, where he was one of four players embroiled in an off-field scandal.
Since then Ben Foden, Alex Goode, Delon Armitage, Mark Cueto and Ugo Monye have been among those to wear the No.15 jersey – and Easter is at a loss as to why it has taken England so long to give Brown another prolonged spell at full-back.
He added: “That tour to South Africa and then the next summer against New Zealand, those were not England’s best days by a long shot and it felt a bit like he was paying the price for that.
“But eventually it seems that if you smash enough heads together they will eventually come up with the right answer.”
England’s form this autumn can all too easily be split into two – a forward pack that improved week on week, culminating in their hour-long battering of the All Blacks, and a backline that continued to look inexperienced at best, inadequate at worst.
It is a view that Easter himself subscribes to, pouring cold water on any rampant optimism surrounding a side that he believes are not much better off than the team he was involved during the ill-fated 2011 World Cup campaign.
“The pack is in excellent shape but that has always been the case,” said Easter. “What the boys have to work on is what they’re going to do with that quality possession.
“We have got to work out how we are going to finish off the best teams in the world, it’s not just scoring tries but even threatening to score tries. You have to keep teams honest and we were not doing that this autumn.”
Chris Ashton’s form this autumn came in for plenty of criticism and for Easter the right man is Christian Wade if England are truly building to 2015 World Cup.
“They are still trying to find the answer and they are going to have to take a few more risks if they are to find that cutting edge,” he added.
“Someone like Christian Wade might well be the answer, those two tries he scored against Gloucester a couple of weekends ago were ridiculous. But you can’t just throw him in and pull him out again, if we’re building for a World Cup there has to be a consistency in selection.”
CHARLIE TALBOT-SMITH
