Mike Brown: 'I will not be wearing tights and I cannot imagine many northerners doing that either'

Mike Brown, the Newcastle Falcons and former England full-back, says an “old school” approach means he will not be caught donning tights during matches, and he doubts whether any of his northern team-mates will do so either following the new ruling on extra layers.

World Rugby announced this week that men’s players would be able to wear tights or leggings during games for the first time to avoid suffering cuts and burns suffered from playing on artificial surfaces.

England prop Joe Marler spoke out against the surfaces earlier this season, tweeting: “Ban 4G pitches.”

Brown joined Newcastle this summer. They are one of four Premiership clubs who play on artificial surfaces, along with Gloucester, Saracens and Worcester Warriors.

Newcastle play at home on Saturday, against Bristol, but the 36-year-old said he would not be among the individuals sporting different clothing.

“I won’t be wearing leggings, absolutely not,” he said. “Can you imagine the northern guys here wearing leggings! It’s not even been spoken about and surely you can’t be wearing leggings – I am old school and I cannot imagine many doing that.”

Despite his reluctance to wear the extra protection now afforded to players at all levels of the game, Brown spoke negatively about the impact artificial surfaces can have on them, citing the difficulties that come from switching between artificial and grass pitches.

He stopped short of the level of criticism that came from Rob Baxter, the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby, who earlier this week said that fewer artificial pitches, rather than allowing players to wear tights, would be a better solution to the burn and graze injuries suffered by players. However, the full-back still expressed his preference for grass, and the lesser impact it took on his body.

“If I am honest I don’t really like the [artificial] surface but it is what it is. Clubs have it for various reasons including maintenance of the pitch and the community side which I get. It does take a bit more out of your body,” said Brown, who scored a try on his competitive Newcastle debut last week against Saracens.

“You have to adapt and the good thing here is that we train on the pitch all week, and for me being the age I am with the knee surgery that I had a couple of years ago it means that if I try and change surfaces that will be a problem. But, being here [at Newcastle] all week I am fine.”

Brown: 'You need all different styles nowadays'

By Ben Coles

Following a change of scenery for the first time in Brown's career, having swapped all he knew in London with Harlequins for the north east and life with Newcastle Falcons, is 'Mr Angry' starting to mellow?

"Right time, right place," is Brown's new approach when it comes to unleashing that aspect of his personality. "You have to be direct but there are times when you have to guide people through and work out solutions. There’s a nurturing side that some of these young lads need nowadays. Is it millennials they call them?

"They need an arm round the shoulder. So you need all different styles in rugby nowadays. Gone are the days when you could just be direct and tell people what to do. That’s something I’m working on constantly in my older age. You have to adapt."

Brown's try last weekend against Saracens was his 64th Premiership score in his 244th league game, but his first for Newcastle on debut. His breakthrough at Harlequins came as an academy graduate under Dean Richards, now in charge of Newcastle, so no wonder his first day at training made Brown, now 36, feel like a teenager again.

"It was a bit like turning up for the first day back at school – not really sure where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t know lads’ names so you have to learn 50 names and you’re getting calls chucked at you, the schedule chucked at you, different ways of doing things and you’re trying to find your way round the stadium."

Arriving as an established veteran has also allowed Brown to express himself in a different way in Newcastle's squad. Something, based on his comments, which he felt less able to do at Harlequins.

"One of the things I wanted to do moving clubs was contribute way more off the field. I think when you're at one place for a large amount of time you're just seen as that guy that came through the academy, seen a certain way. And I don't think people as much as they should take into account the growth you've made as a person and as a player," Brown explains.

"So coming into a new environment where nobody really knows exactly what you're like I was just really keen to be a leader as much as possible, use my experience, contribute as much as I could off the field. That's what I've tried to do, lead meetings way more than I did before, speak way more than I did before, I think, really embrace that side."

Newcastle are currently well placed after the opening rounds to make a move, with two wins from four and a points difference hovering around zero, and Brown already senses there is more to come from a somewhat underrated group.

"From the outside looking in before I joined I always thought there was a lot of potential here and there definitely is that. Not just the guys that are getting selected for hopefully higher honours, but also the rest of the squad. There's a lot of potential here and if we want to push on like we do and we put the work in there's no reason why we can't do that."

One Newcastle player already making the leap is wing Adam Radwan, who has followed up a hat-trick on his England debut in the summer with being named Premiership player of the month for September.

"He’s an interesting character – that’s the first thing. He’s kind of like Jonny May; quite different to other people. But he’s a top guy who takes on every bit of advice that he can from all players," Brown says of Radwan. "He’s a hell of an athlete so all I have to do is catch the ball, give it to him and let him do his magic. He’s a special talent and he’s got way more potential in it. If he keeps working hard at his game, I can see him being a superstar – I’ve got no doubt about that."

Discussing the way his 16-year spell with Harlequins ended, with Brown suspended for Harlequins' title run-in and unable to be part of their stunning wins over Bristol and Exeter, he now seems philosophical.

"You have to [move on], don’t you? Worse things happen in life than what happened to me," Brown concedes. "At that moment in time it was devastating, but once you sit back and take yourself out of it, you put it to the back of your mind and see it for what it is. Luckily I had this new challenge to look forward to, so I just focused on that and moving, rather than the ban and everything else that happened. So it was a devastating time but life goes on, doesn’t it?"

Perhaps being based at the opposite end of the country is the best way to heal.