AFTER a meagre 2018 the tide is rising for Eddie Jones this autumn - a head coach desperate for his England recruits to produce some do-or-die performances.

The World Cup ship is badly off course and South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia are on route to Twickenham no doubt with intent of pouring on the November rain.

If the Australian head coach is looking for direct course then he could do worse than hard-running full-back Mike Brown, a 72-cap man considered ever-dependable by Jones and Stuart Lancaster before him.

Brown maybe doesn’t have the all-round attacking game of say, an Alex Goode, but it’s his no-backwards-step, ultra-combative approach that often sees him preferred, but how did he get like that?

“I started playing when I was five years old,” explained Brown. “At my local club in Salisbury, I went all the way through to Under-16s and carried on from there.

“My dad ended up a coach and we spent a lot of time down there together which was great, I have massively fond memories of that.

“He did put me off coaching though I think! He was quite a demanding coach and he was tougher on me than everyone else.

“Did he help make me the player I am now? Potentially yeah, he’s given me demons hasn’t he!

“Obviously he didn’t want to show favouritism and things like that which was fine, but I do have really good memories of myself and him going down to the club.”

Brown’s uncompromising style often means that if he’s on your side, be it with England or Harlequins – you love him, if he’s against you – not so much, with many a Six Nations opponent bristling at his presence.

But for those who criticise the Southampton-born full-back he can point to three Six Nations Championships with England and recently surpassed 300 appearances for Harlequins – a staggering achievement in the modern era.

For a man who claims to be put off coaching Brown is a vocal supporter of the wider game and whilst waiting for England’s autumn of reckoning to arrive put on a grassroots training session at Kingston RFC.

“It’s massively important grassroots rugby,” added Brown, the 2014 Six Nations Player of the Championship. “It was massive in my development and the whole family would go down at weekends and watch the rugby and get involved in the clubhouse afterwards.

“I have very fond memories, you run around with your mates playing tag and in little tournaments, getting your coke and chips and messing about with your mates.

“It’s massively important and it’s great to come down here (Kingston RFC) and get involved in it.”

Whilst Brown Sr provided an early-life coaching role model his son has had plenty of good men to learn from since, with Dean Richards and Conor O’Shea holding the reins at Quins for much of his career, O’Shea and Brown winning the Premiership title together in 2012.

The back-three man’s bosses with club and country are now ex-England defence coach Paul Gustard and Jones, with Brown noting similarities between the two, who worked together in the England setup for over two years.

“Paul learned a lot from Eddie and from working with England in terms of the sessions to raise physicality and intensity,” added Brown, who was speaking on behalf of Land Rover during the grassroots training session at Kingston RFC. “Harlequins now is very much similar to what we used to do in England camp.

“But he (Gustard) has obviously brought his own style to things in the role as well. He was just defence coach with England and had a boss – now he’s the boss and gets to do what he wants!

“There’s a bit of his stuff and a lot of stuff from England camp as well. We needed to raise the work rate and the physicality at Quins and I think that’s showing in our performances.”

Mike Brown is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover has a heritage in rugby and shares and understands the values of the game. @LandRoverRugby