England can't afford many complaints from a 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign in which they finished second to South Africa, but the contest dredges up sour memories for Mike Brown.
The former Harlequins full-back—who has made more appearances for the club than any other player—was left out of Eddie Jones ' squad after a fight between him and team-mate Ben Te'o shortly before the competition. The squad had travelled to Treviso for some pre-tournament preparations, but both Brown and Te'o missed the flight to Japan following their melee in Italy.
Convinced his form and reputation should have been enough to bag him a spot among the squad, however, the 72-cap star doesn't believe the coach's reasoning was justified. Both regarded as fiery characters of their craft, Brown even decided to squeeze Jones for details on whether he was genuine.
"That wasn't the reason why I didn't go to the World Cup," he told former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton for RugbyPass. "I think it was just easier for Eddie to put it on that, as I'd kind of been getting pushed out of the team as that season had gone on.
"Then a few days later, when Eddie's ringing around people to say they're not involved, he kind of puts it on that. I said to him: 'Look, I understand selection is what it is, but don't put it on that. You haven't even asked me what happened.' With all due respect, I didn't really do anything. I don't feel like it was my fault. I hadn't drunk much, two drinks or whatever. There were people in a worse state than me and I was just trying to mind my own business. So he just switched and turned on me, effing and blinding. It wasn't nice.
It was then that Brown told Jones to "just be a man" and tell him the real reason, because he felt it was "clear and obvious" the fight with Te'o was being used as an excuse. It's no coincidence the Quins veteran was being phased out of the team at the time, with Elliot Daly going on to play every minute of England's campaign at full-back.
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Brown—who now plays for Newcastle Falcons —even asked to see the written reports Jones said he had received from his security team who allegedly witnessed the scrap. But the Australian refused to cow to a member of his squad and took greater offence that the shunned player was so intent on questioning his decision.
"He said: 'Who the f*** do you think you are?' because I was going back at him and he doesn't like that," added Brown. "It's a shame it ended up like that. I wanted clarity on why I wasn't getting picked, not some made-up excuse."
Despite initially maintaining his prominent role in England's plans after Jones first became head coach in 2016, Brown made his final Test appearance in 2018 before being left behind. Te'o, on the other hand—who made the jump to union from rugby league in 2014—earned 20 England caps in two-and-a-half years before his axe in 2019.
The former Leinster centre has addressed the Brown incident himself in the past and said he didn't think "it was that big of a deal." His reaction to the 2019 World Cup omission was allegedly a lot more laidback, too, after he responded by telling Jones: "Okay, no worries."
England were favourites to win the tournament after upsetting the bookmakers with a semi-final win over giants New Zealand. Rassie Erasmus' Springboks surprised them at the final hurdle, however, losing 32-12 as they returned from Japan with the silver medal.
Jones has changed up his team plans once again ahead of next year's World Cup in France and has promoted Leicester Tigers youngster Freddie Steward at full-back. It didn't have the desired effect at the Six Nations as they won only two of three games for the second year running, ramping up the pressure on the outbound tactician.
