ULSTER RUGBY HAVE confirmed the signing of South African flanker Marcell Coetzee on an three-year deal.
The 28-times capped Springbok will join at the conclusion of the Super Rugby season this summer despite having almost a year and a half left on his deal with the Sharks.
Less Kiss had promised fans of the province an ‘exciting signing’ to fill the Non-Irish Qualified (NIQ) spot freed up by the departure of Nick Williams to Cardiff and he has not disappointed with the highly-rated Coetzee who can play anywhere across the back row.
The 24-year-old will join fellow Springboks Ruan Pienaar and Franco van der Merwe this summer while Charles Piutau will also link up with the province for the 2016/17 campaign.
Announcing the move Kiss said:
“It is a major coup for us to sign a player of Marcell’s quality and experience. His age profile, positional versatility, leadership ability and character were some of the key ingredients as to why he was such an important target for us.
“He has played most of his international rugby between 6 and 7, but he has also played a huge amount at number 8, where we feel he could have a big impact for Ulster. That versatility is absolutely vital for us, as not only can Marcell be hugely effective across the three positions, but this can also accommodate the development of a number of our home-grown Irish-qualified players.
“Being appointed as the Sharks’ vice-captain for the season shows that even at the young age of 24, Marcell has undoubted leadership ability. On the park, with his skilled and aggressive approach, he clearly leads from the front.”
The42 / SoundCloud
Vincent Debaty, unreal support running from the prop, amazing run as well Nakaitaci ..
100% best try. I reckon the effort probably took a year off his life.
Love that he immediately had to go off. He literally gave everything for the try. And was forced back on. Unbelievable. What a day.
Agree 100% Vincent ran at some pace, and scored a crucial try. What a fecking legend the next time he is in Limerick the pints are on me!!!
Magic stuff. Is that Nigel Owens in the background saying “every game should be like this”? And they were singing a cracking rendition of Swing low when the move started. Love the six nations.
I’m still dancing at the crossroads, the wifi isn’t great.
Great tries great day. But a try saving tackle by Jammy won it for us. Never been a Heaslip fan but he earned his corn yesterday.
Great article. We’ll done on compiling the list!
Great line from Owens after the Debaty try ‘Every game should be like this’
Leonardo Sarto for Italy in the last minute! Went from needing 28 points to 21, which was massive psychologically. Bravo sir!
Thanks for sharing. Live in USA for last 5 years but still a huge fan. Was following text commentary on Saturday. These are great times for Irish Rugby. We should cherish them.
And then this
The Irish, French and Italian ones.