Tony Brown says he has no out clause in his role with the Springboks, cooling speculation he could join the All Blacks coaching set up after Scott Robertson's sacking.
The Springboks' attack coach said he remains committed to South Africa.
"I'm obviously contracted," Brown told The Post. "I don't have an out of my contract, so I'm back in South Africa [until the Rugby World Cup]."
Brown has been heavily linked to a potential role with the All Blacks alongside Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph, but he said any talk of his involvement was premature.
"Everything's just speculation. I'm not even sure what New Zealand Rugby's plans are. No one's really heard anything," he said.
When asked about Razor's sudden dismissal, Brown said he was taken aback by the decision.
"I'm very surprised,” he told The Post. “I didn't think they would do that, especially with no one waiting to take over."
"[It’s] definitely not [going to be easy] for them [to find a replacement], especially without a CEO and high-performance manager, so there's lots of things for them to get sorted pretty quickly.
Brown said the decision had sparked surprise within the Springboks camp.
"All the [Springboks] coaches have been chatting on chat groups and things like that, so everyone's pretty surprised and amazed at what's what's been happening."
NZ Rugby is currently without a permanent chief executive after Mark Robinson announced last year he would step down, while head of high performance Mike Anthony is also set to leave to join English Premier League club Brighton.
Yesterday Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph, with whom Brown has a good relationship, told 1News the pair spoke regularly.
"I speak to Tony most weeks, mainly about golf," Joseph said, adding he "hadn't had a chance to think" about the vacant role.
Lask week, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus dismissed speculation linking Brown to the role, releasing an AI generated video mocking the situation.
NZ Rugby chair David Kirk said last week the organisation had "no one in mind" to replace Robertson and would "cast the net wide".
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