Tony Brown will join the All Blacks' coaching staff after the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
New Zealander Tony Brown has been thrust firmly into the spotlight following the revelation that he will join the All Blacks’ coaching staff in 2028.
His current boss at the Springboks, Rassie Erasmus, has praised Brown to the rafters for his revolutionary influence on the team’s attacking blueprint — a tactical shift that got me thinking about the other colourful Kiwis who have coached in South Africa over the years.
And what a remarkably vibrant bunch they have been, beginning with the inimitable Alex “Grizz” Wyllie. An All Blacks flanker in South Africa during the tempestuous 1976 tour, Wyllie later returned to coach Eastern Province and Transvaal.
It is not stretching the narrative to suggest that Wyllie indirectly influenced the Springboks' iconic 1995 Rugby World Cup triumph, given that he mentored the vast majority of that squad during their domestic tenure at Transvaal.
