Coetzee: 'I'll always be grateful for the Sharks' 

SPOTLIGHT: Bulls loose forward Marcell Coetzee believes that this weekend’s United Rugby Championship clash against his former team – the Sharks will be a tough but exciting battle.

Coetzee spoke about his time at the Sharks where his career started and his gratuity towards the Durban-based side where his professional career started.

“The current coach is the first professional coach that I made my senior debut for and that’s John Plumtree.

“You’ll always that connection with the Sharks and I went to school in Natal on the south coast.

“I’ll always be grateful for them, but I must say I enjoyed my time here in Pretoria with the Bulls.

“My dad and I were always big Bulls supporters.

“For what they’ve done for your career at the start you’ll always be grateful but this weekend it will be personal.

“For other reasons, it’s a big derby and the guys are looking forward to it.

“It’s a team full of Springboks so that adds to the motivation.

“At the end of the day you want to measure yourself against the best.

“And the crop that they [currently] have, it’s a great opportunity to measure yourself with.”

In terms of the battle of the loose forwards, Coetzee believes that in many ways that’s an area where the game could be won or lost this weekend.

“If we can get the upper-hand in that department, it would definitely make things a bit easier.

“There is of course many other factors against players with World Cup and Rugby Championship experience.

“It will take a lot more than just that aspect of the game.

“You’re going to need a strong set-piece and being able to handle the kicking game.

“There’s a lot of factors that will play a role but that battle will definitely be one of them.

“At the end of the day you want to measure yourself against the best, and they have world-class loose forwards at the moment.”

Coetzee also spoke about the unpredictable conditions in Durban that his side will have to adapt to this weekend.

“This time of year humidity will also play a huge factor with the heat.

“Even on the day, it depends how you adapt.

“We’ll have a meeting on our day of arrival and look at the various [weather] elements and adapt here and there.

“We’ll be prepared, the big thing that we should know is that it won’t be an easy match.

“It will really be a team effort to be able to beat the Sharks and if we tick certain boxes on the day it will make things easier.”