Cape Town – The Bulls have put in the hard yards, and now it’s showtime. That was the gist of the message from co-captain Marcell Coetzee ahead of Sunday’s United Rugby Championship clash against the Scarlets at Loftus Versfeld (3pm kickoff).
The Pretoria side will have a new look to their team following director of rugby Jake White’s recruitment drive in the off-season, while there are several new members in the management group as well.
Some of the bigger names on the pitch will include Springboks such as hooker Akker van der Merwe and prop Wilco Louw, as well as World Cup fullback Willie le Roux.
Former Bok assistant coach Gary Gold and lock Andries Bekker are now part of the coaching team as well.
Coetzee said that he was familiar with Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel, having worked with him during his lengthy stint at Ulster.
“Very excited for the first game – it’s been a long pre-season! The guys have worked really hard behind the scenes, and now it’s a great opportunity to show what we’ve been working on,” Coetzee said at Loftus this week.
“But it doesn’t help if we feel good and train good, and we don’t show it on the pitch. That is what we are striving for this season. We want to make ourselves proud and our fans proud.
“When you get new guys, they bring a new energy and a new excitement and experience. And working with Coach Andries at the (Kobe) Steelers (in Japan), we know what he is capable of bringing to the pack.
“It’s a great collective group now, and there is a great spirit among the team – the guys are enjoying each other. But everyone is buzzing for the first game now, and it’s just about putting those structures into practice now. We are in a good place after a good pre-season, and the guys are hungry for rugby.”
The Bulls were beaten 33-21 in the URC quarter-finals by their arch-rivals, the Stormers, at the Cape Town Stadium, while they were knocked out in the Currie Cup semi-finals by the eventual champions, Cheetahs, while the Champions Cup saw the Pretoria outfit go down to Toulouse 33-9 in the round of 16.
Fellow co-captain Ruan Nortjé – who stated that he has also bulked up a bit in the off-season – added that the Bulls are determined to go further in the competitions this season.
“It was a nice and long pre-season, but it was also important for us, with the new management coming in and a few new systems that we’ve brought in, to have a longer pre-season,” the No 5 lock said.
“We had a tough road last season, but there were a lot of lessons that I learnt. The younger guys also learnt a lot, and there has been a lot of growth.
“For any player, it’s a dream to play for the Boks. It’s definitely an ambition for me to get there again, but I want to contribute to the Bulls – and it’s shown that if you do well here, then your chances are better to be selected.”
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