MARCELL COETZEE DOESN’T fancy the idea of being Leinster’s fall-guys this Friday. He kind of got sick of that feeling when he was employed by Ulster.
Now back with the Bulls, in his native South Africa, the 31-year-old is seeking his second trophy in 12 months, after landing last year’s Currie Cup. The obstacle in his way only happens to be the most successful club in Pro14/URC history.
“We are going to go all for it,” he said. “You don’t make the playoff to just cruise around. Its business and we are looking forward to it.
“It’s a great challenge playing against Leinster and it shows you where you can measure yourself as a team and as an individual. They have got great players all around the park. It is a great time to see where we stand and hopefully get to qualify for a final.”
The place they stood last September, when these sides last met, was in their end goal area, as Leinster ran in try after try en route to a 31-3 win. Glasgow experienced a similar feeling last weekend.
“The thing with Leinster is they play with incredible tempo,” said Coetzee. “They also play an expansive brand of rugby, guys running onto the ball. You are going to put yourself under pressure. They try to outwork their opponents.
“You see the Ireland team as well. They have a very high tempo. The ball is not long at the breakdown so it’s all about preparing for that, backing your system. Our defence system has been looking after us well. It is still far from perfect but we’re striving to be better every day.
“By coming up against a team like Leinster you can’t allow them to give that quick pace on the ball with the playmakers they have in the back line, the likes of Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose. They do their magic you know.”
South African sides have their own box of tricks. It’s called a pack. They use it to steamroller teams.
“I think whenever you play playoffs the pillars of your success are set pieces,” Coetzee said. “If your set piece functions on the day that is something you can work from. It can help you get in the right areas. I’ll tell you we will be working very hard on our set pieces for this game.
“We have been doing well in that department this season. We just need to continue building that. Still a lot of ‘fixables’ identified against the Sharks. But we will work on that this week. In any playoff team when you play on the other side the set pieces need to function. It just helps you get in the right areas like how we got that last drop goal to win the game against the Sharks last weekend. It started off on a penalty. We got our lineout functioning and we managed to build on that. Like La Rochelle did against Leinster.”
But the Bulls didn’t fire a shot against Leinster a week ago.
“If you take the context of when we played that first game, there were some youngsters who never experienced Ireland and also playing away,” Coetzee explains. “Particularly teams like Leinster. I think it was a big shock to a lot of the guys.
“We also just came up from a Currie Cup as well. We’ve grown exponentially during the tournament. You’ve seen boys become men and guys playing exceptional rugby and already grown in the URC which is very beneficial not just for the Bulls for all the other teams I feel.”
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