Tony Brown will conclude his work with the Springboks after the Rugby World Cup in Australia next year, before taking up a coaching position with New Zealand Rugby.
Without the decisive refusal of his grandmother, who disagreed with the doctor's assessment, the Springboks might never have benefited from Tony Brown's attacking talent.
When he was only two years old, the man who later played as a flyhalf for the All Blacks and became one of the world's most inventive rugby coaches, nearly lost his arm.
Brown recounted this astonishing story in an engaging interview with his compatriot John Plumtree on the Plumtree Uncut podcast, hosted by the former Sharks coach alongside Grant Bashford, Plumtree's former assistant at the Sharks.
Brown pushed his arm through a discarded glass panel in the family garden, almost severing it.
"I was two years old, and I pushed my arm through a glass panel that I found as a naughty toddler," recalls Brown.
His grandmother was home and rushed to take him to a local hospital located an hour away.
The verdict was grim: his arm would have to be amputated.
But his grandmother did not allow it. Brown remembers his grandmother telling the doctor, "No, you are wrong."
She put the child back in the car and drove another hour and a half to Dunedin, where a hand specialist believed the arm could be saved.
It took seven operations over the following seven years. Three tendons were replaced, with grafts taken from his legs, and Brown had to wait until he was 13 or 14 years old before he could use his arm fully.
He could never straighten it completely. However, as Brown explained, children adapt. He noted: "That is what made me a player and a coach. I learned to play with both hands instead of favoring one hand."
This ability to adapt became a defining characteristic of Brown's coaching career. After playing for Otago and the All Blacks, he coached the Highlanders and Japan, before joining the Springboks after the 2023 World Cup.
His philosophy seems deceptively simple. Brown stated: "There has always been an attempt to find a way to win. Obviously, you need to look at the personnel you have and figure out your strengths and weaknesses, and then develop an attacking style of play that suits those players and the team. It is always a challenge... But the attempt to find ways to win and inspire players to play in a certain way that allows us to win more matches than we lose, always impresses me in coaching."
Brown believes that three principles lie at the heart of successful attacking rugby: "Momentum, speed, and space." He added: "If you can achieve these three things on the rugby field, you will always be a dominant rugby team."
The defensive formula is the opposite. "You obviously have to stop momentum, stop speed, and close down space."
For Brown, it all starts with the lineout. He emphasized: "Not losing the lineout is huge. The ability to always dominate the lineout creates space for player attacks. And then, if you have speed and skill, you can do quite a lot of good on the rugby field."
There is an interesting symmetry in Brown's journey. A young boy who had to learn physical adaptation eventually became a player who could see opportunities where others did not.
His rugby journey also led him to South Africa, where his time with the Sharks transitioned into a period with the Stormers. "I have always been lucky with where I ended up," he said. "Arriving in South Africa in 2006 as a player for the Sharks is why I am here now, because two years later Rassie called me to go to the Stormers in 2008, and there I first met him."
Therefore, when Erasmus finally called him about joining the Springboks, there was no hesitation. "As soon as Rassie called me to join him in the Boks, it was like 100% determination immediately."