Mike Brown"s the best full-back in England, insists Evans

Nick Evans, the All Blacks and Harlequins No10, believes team-mate Brown’s consistency warrants long-term commitment from the England head coach.

Lancaster used the full-back as a left-wing in last season’s Six Nations before allowing the 28-year-old, who has 21 caps, to assume his club position for the autumn internationals.

Brown was voted England’s top player in the matches against Argentina, New Zealand and Australia and he is carrying that form into Harlequins’ crucial Heineken Cup home game with Racing Metro at The Twickenham Stoop on Sunday.

He faces stiff competition at Test level from Alex Goode (Saracens) and Ben Foden (Northampton) but Evans, joint top scorer with 41 points in the Heineken Cup this season, said: “Mike has nailed the position.

“He has taken his opportunities and, while people may say the hard part is breaking into the national team, the really hard part is staying there.

“There are different ways of going through your playing career and we all know Mike is a very intense guy who is confrontational on the pitch and goes and gets what he wants.

“He puts in a lot hard work on the training pitch and very rarely has a bad game. It’s now about staying in the jersey and maintaining his current form for England heading into the Six Nations. I see him winning a Lions Test jersey on the next tour [to New Zealand in 2017].”

Brown’s importance to Quins was highlighted during last weekend’s stunning 32-8 win over Racing in France when he was up against Argentina full-back Juan Martin Hernandez. The victory revived Quins’ chances of making it into the knock-out stages as they go into the return match just three points behind Pool leaders Clermont.

The Amlin Opta stats show Brown ran with the ball 11 times against Racing, taking him to 40 carries in the Cup this season. Those trade mark charges have earned 268 metres and he has beaten his defender an impressive 14 times.

Quins need another outstanding performance against Racing who will have three Lions’ backs in their line-up, with fit-again Jamie Roberts returning alongside Mike Phillips and Jonny Sexton.

Quins captain Chris Robshaw warned: “They will come at us all guns blazing on Sunday and we cannot afford to switch off.”

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12546/8893450/england-star-mike-brown-signs-new-contract-with-harlequins

Mike Brown"s the best full-back in England, insists Evans