Brandon Brown (rugby union)

Brown was born in Port Elizabeth. He attended and played first team rugby for Grey High School,[2] but didn't play at provincial for his local side, the Eastern Province Kings, at school-level competitions such as the Under-18 Craven Week.

His first taste of rugby played at a nationwide level was for the Eastern Province U21 team during the 2015 Under-21 Provincial Championship. He made eight starts and three appearances as a replacement for the team playing in their first season in Group A of the competition, having won promotion from Group B in 2014. The team struggled in their first season at a higher level, winning just one match and finishing bottom of the log.[3]

In 2016, Brown represented the NMMU Madibaz in the Varsity Cup competition. He played in all seven of their matches during the competition – starting six of those – and scored tries in matches against NWU Pukke[4] and against the UCT Ikey Tigers[5] in their only victory of the season as the team finished second-last in the competition.[6]

Brown was included in the Eastern Province Kings matchday squad for their Currie Cup qualification series match against the Falcons in Kemnpton Park. He made his first class debut by coming on just before the hour mark in a 26–59 defeat[7] in his only appearances in the competition.

He was named in their squad for the 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division[8] and made his first appearance at this level, appearing as a replacement in their 10–28 defeat to the Boland Cavaliers in their opening match of the season.[9] After another appearance off the bench against Western Province,[10] he made his first start against Griquas four days later.[11] He featured in all their remaining matches in the competition in a poor season for the team that saw the side finish bottom, losing all their matches.[12] Brown scored his first senior try during the season, in their final round defeat to the Pumas.[13]