A WEEK FROM now Ulster will play their final game of this season, a match that will have a seismic impact their 2018/19 campaign.
It could also put heavy glossy coat on what has otherwise been a lost year.
Beat Ospreys at home next Sunday afternoon and Champions Cup rugby is theirs again. Lose, and it’s another sorry chapter and a poor footing for incoming head coach Dan McFarland to begin from.
However, one Ulster player who will be glad to see next season come what may is Marcell Coetzee.
The 28-cap Springbok is confident he will be available again for the start of Ulster’s fresh start after a full pre-season.
There will surely be tentative early steps, though, because his two-year stint with the northern province currently amounts to just five appearances thanks to a horrendous run of luck with knee injuries.
“It’s been a long process,” says Coetzee, with the bulging biceps of a man who has had time to focus on upper body training, “but it’s seven months post-operation now, another two months of rehab to go and I’ll fall in with the other players in pre-season.
“Just to be among them will be a sigh of relief for me and, hopefully, it continues to go well so I can play that first game.”
It’s mentally challenging to come to a new club, you want to give back what they invest in you, and then bad luck comes your way. It’s character-building at the end of the day, I’ve learnt a lot about life in the last two years. It has all been very frustrating, this past year watching the boys play.”
Efforts to quell that sense of frustration for Coetzee comes, on the pitch, in the form of him offering tips and advice around the breakdown in training, particularly to young prospects like Matty Rea and Nick Timoney who have faced a steep learning curve in the Ulster back row this season.
Off the field, he has been keeping himself distracted by studying wildlife management. One day, hopefully at least a decade away, he may put it to use by starting his own game farm. Until then, he’s happy to be on his feet and able to roam wild.
“I’m a very outdoors man, it’s where I find my peace,” says the just-turned 27-year-old.
“I’ve got a guesthouse right next to Kruger National Park (the 360km long park in South Africa’s north-east), the whole habitat and the bush fills my soul as an off-field (interest).
“I’m very fond of the bush and the animals coming with that. It’s another field, an online course that allows me on my own time… obviously I’ve a lot of time now, but it’s good to take your mind off things as well.
“It’s a good reminder that rugby isn’t forever, that you need to establish yourself after rugby.
“I’ve learnt a lot about life in general, how to approach it after rugby. I’ve got a brief taste, but hopefully that’s not the end.”
Coetzee’s influence on and off the pitch will be crucial next season. Taking shape under a new coach – who you suspect will arrive sooner rather than later – is a task enough, when you add the loss of a talent like Charles Piutau and core leaders such as Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Paul Marshall and Callum Black there is a vacuum to be dealt with.
It wouldn’t win over many neutrals, but a repeat of the 8-0 win over Ospreys in April would be the ideal pivot point for everyone involved in Ulster.
“That would give us a lot of confidence going into next season knowing that we’re still competing with the best in Europe,” says Coetzee.
“We’ve had a lot of stuff following us the last couple of years, we just want to focus on our rugby now and grow in general.
“Get our culture right, get the confidence right… there is a culture there, it’s a culture to be proud of. We’ve phenomenal facilities, good medical guys… everyone must just be confident, passionate and move forward in one direction to hear what the new coach has to say and buy into his plan.”
