Behind the Scenes | Kelly Brown

It hasn’t taken long for Kelly Brown to slip back into the old routine at Saracens after he rejoined the club in February this year. 

Having spent 10 years as a player and then coach with the club, t was very much a case of ‘coming home’ for the former Scotland back-row and captain. 

Brown was with Saracens both in a playing and non-playing capacity between 2010-2020 before heading back to the land of his birth to act as a breakdown and contact area coach with Glasgow Warriors. That was an area of the game in which he was a past master, earning him 64 Scottish caps in a great career. His record with Saracens was equally impressive.

Among 150 appearances for the men in black, he contributed to Premiership and European Champions Cup successes before retiring in 2017.

Equally impressive was the way in which he seamlessly transitioned into coaching and helped Saracens Storm win the Premiership Rugby Shield in 2018-19. Under Brown’s guidance, Storm also reached the final of the Premiership Rugby Cup in the same season.

As director of rugby Mark McCall hands over some of the coaching reigns of the Premiership Cup team to Brown, he knows the players couldn’t be in better hands.
“We were thrilled to welcome Kelly back to the club,” McCall said.

“He was always hugely popular and respected and it is obvious how deeply he cares about the club while he is also playing a key role in the development of our squad.” 
Brown is hugely excited by the young players he will give a chance to in this season’s Premiership Cup.
He added: “I think we’ve got some really good players at Saracens who are 18 to 23 and even underneath that. Our Under-18’s are pretty strong so we’re excited to see which of these guys are really going to kick on and go on to achieve some really big things in the game.

“This competition is so important. We approach each one in a different way, but the Premiership Cup is a great one for us. It gives not only the players, but the coaches and strength and conditioning coaches and medics a chance. It’s a totally new group which is brilliant for us to get experience.

“I’m enjoying coaching. It’s brilliant and it’s crazy how fast it goes. It’s been four years now since I started. To come back to Saracens, which is obviously a place I’ve got a lot of love for, has been great. There are a lot of outstanding coaches for me to learn from here and I’m aware that in coaching terms, I’m still relatively young. I’m so fortunate I’ve got great guys to work alongside.”

Brown is loving working alongside McCall at Saracens and hopes to continue progressing himself.

He has a bright future ahead of him and will surely work as a head coach or director of rugby one day. “I just want to keep on learning,” Brown said. “Saracens is the best place for me to do that.

“It’s a brilliant club and Saracens genuinely cares about its players, coaches and staff.

“I feel that every single day. I want to become the best coach I possibly can be and I feel I’m at the best I can be at to do that.

“It’s important to bring Saracens people in and we like to keep them in the club if I can. Four to five years ago when I was coming to the end of my playing career there was an opportunity to join the academy and I was told if I wanted to step into that role, then I could. That was brilliant for me.

“It was what I did and I think it’s important to keep good people in our environment.”