The Highlanders side of 23 players — minus all its All Blacks except for hooker Liam Coltman — will travel to Brisbane next Wednesday for the two day-tournament at Suncorp Stadium next weekend.
The event has come under some flak after it was initially heavily promoted as being stacked with All Blacks although all of the players who went on the end-of-year All Black tour — except for Coltman and Blues centre George Moala — are not playing.
In Brown's absence the Highlanders will be coached by skills and high performance coach Jon Preston, who will be assisted by assistant coaches Mark Hammett and Scott McLeod.
The Highlanders have the last of their warm-up games on February 16 against the Waratahs in Sydney.
All of the squad will head to Sydney for that match and all the side’s All Blacks will be available. Brown said those who had not had a run beforehand would get a hit-out in the Sydney game.
The players, along with other coaches who are not in Brisbane for the tens tournament, will head across the Tasman next weekend.
Brown said the tens was an exciting opportunity for the players to do something different in the pre-season.
"The quality of the opposition is awesome and with the weather over there it is going to be a great weekend. It will be a great opportunity for some of our guys to challenge ourselves against the best in the world," he said.
Winger Patrick Osborne has returned from a spell in Japanese rugby while utility back Richard Buckman and lock Joe Wheeler — who also played in Japan this season — will rejoin the Highlanders next week, along with captain Ben Smith.