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| Full name | Marcell Cornelius Coetzee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 8 May 1991 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Potchefstroom, Transvaal, Republic of South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 117 kg (18 st 6 lb; 258 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Port Natal High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Marcell Cornelius Coetzee (born 8 May 1991) is a South African professional rugby union player who is the captain for South African side the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship. He plays as a flanker.
Coetzee made his debut in Super Rugby for the Sharks against the Brumbies on Saturday 7 May 2011. [2] He has offloading skills that have been likened to those of Sonny Bill Williams. [3]
Heyneke Meyer, Springboks coach, included him in the national squad to face England in a test series where Coetzee made his Springbok test debut on 9 June 2012 in Durban. [4]
Coetzee joined Japanese Top League side Honda Heat for the 2015–2016 season. [5]
In February 2016, it was announced that he would join Irish Pro12 side Ulster on a three-year deal starting in the 2016–2017 season. [6] Coetzee featured sparingly in his first two seasons with Ulster, due to recurring knee injury problems. [7] Coetzee was the 2020–21 joint top try-scorer (9) and the 2020–21 Pro14 Players' Player of the Season in his final season with Ulster. [8]
In December 2020 the Bulls confirmed that Coetzee would join the franchise in June 2021 on a three-year deal. [9]
| Against | Pld | W | D | L | Tri | Con | Pen | DG | Pts | %Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 75 |
 Australia | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 50 |
 England | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 |
 Ireland | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 50 |
 Italy | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 New Zealand | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
 Scotland | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 100 |
 Wales | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 26 | 17 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 65.38 |
Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Con = Conversions, Pen = Penalties, DG = Drop Goals, Pts = Points Scored
| Try | Opposing team | Location | Venue | Competition | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Argentina | Cape Town, South Africa | Newlands Stadium | 2012 Rugby Championship | 18 August 2012 | Won 27-6 |
| 2 | Scotland | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium | Mid-year rugby test series | 28 June 2014 | Won 55-6 |
| 3 | Scotland | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium | Mid-year rugby test series | 28 June 2014 | Won 55-6 |
| 4 | Argentina | Salta, Argentina | Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena | 2014 Rugby Championship | 23 August 2014 | Won 33-31 |
| 5 | Australia | Cape Town, South Africa | Newlands Stadium | 2014 Rugby Championship | 27 September 2014 | Won 28-10 |
| 6 | Ireland | Dublin, Ireland | Aviva Stadium | End-of-year rugby test series | 8 November 2014 | Lost 15-29 |
The Bulls are a South African professional rugby union team based in Pretoria. They play their home matches at Loftus Versfeld. They compete in the United Rugby Championship, having competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. Prior to 1998, the Bulls competed in the then-Super 12 as Northern Transvaal, as in those years South Africa was represented in the competition by its top four Currie Cup sides from the previous season, instead of the modern Super Rugby teams.
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries.
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999.
Daniel Johannes "Duane" Vermeulen is a former South African professional rugby union player who previously played for the South Africa national team. He also previously played for Ulster Rugby in the United Rugby Championship, Vodacom Blue Bulls and the Pumas, Free State Cheetahs and Western Province in South African domestic rugby, the Cheetahs, Stormers and Bulls in Super Rugby and Toulon in the Top 14. He was an instrumental part of South Africa winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup and received the Man of the Match award in the final. Vermeulen played as a Number eight but he was equally adept at playing both blindside and openside flanker.
Pieter Stephanus du Toit is a South African professional rugby union player. Du Toit plays as a lock or a flanker for the South Africa national team and the Toyota Verblitz in Japan Rugby League One. After winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup with South Africa, he was awarded the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year. He was awarded player of the match in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand.
Steven Kitshoff is a South African professional rugby player who currently plays for the Stormers. His playing position is loosehead prop. He represents the South Africa national team and has previously played for Bordeaux in the French Top 14 and Western Province in the Currie Cup. He joined Ulster for the 2023–24 season.
Arnoldus Francois Botha is a South African rugby union footballer for Lyon in the French Top 14. He can operate either as a flanker or number 8.
Eben Etzebeth is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship and the South Africa national rugby team. He made his international debut for the Springboks in 2012 and has since won 128 caps making him the Springboks' most capped player. His regular playing position is as a loosehead lock. He is often considered one of the best locks to have ever played for South Africa.
Johannes Lodewikus Goosen is a South African professional rugby union player. He plays as a fly-half, full-back or centre for the Bulls and the Blue Bulls, competing in the United Rugby Championship and the Currie Cup.
In June 2012, the England national rugby union team went on a three-test tour against the South Africa national rugby union team, known colloquially and referred to hereafter as the Springboks. This was one of a series of mid-year tours in 2012 by northern teams to be hosted by southern hemisphere nations.
John Cooney is an Irish rugby union player who plays scrum-half for Irish provincial side Ulster in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup, having previously played for Leinster and Connacht, and has eleven caps for Ireland. Since joining Ulster in 2017, he has been nominated for EPCR European Player of the Year once, been named in the Pro14 Dream Team four times, and been Ulster's player of the year twice.
Handré Pollard is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national team and Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. His regular playing positions are fly-half, where he started for South Africa in their 2019 Rugby World Cup Final win, and inside-centre. He has previously played for the Bulls and Blue Bulls in his native South Africa, Osaka Red Hurricanes in Japan and Montpellier in France. He is one of 43 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions, 24 of whom are South Africans. He is widely acknowledged as the best rugby union goal kicker of all time.
Jasper van der Westhuizen Wiese is a South African professional rugby union player who plays for Urayasu D-Rocks in Japan's Rugby League One and South Africa internationally. He can play as a number 8 or a flanker.
Madosha Michael Tambwe is a South African rugby union player for Bordeaux Bègles. He usually plays as a winger.
The 2020–21 PRO14 was the twentieth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the fourth season to be referred to as the PRO14.
The 2021–22 season was Ulster Rugby's 28th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's fourth season as head coach. They competed in the inaugural United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The 2020–21 season was Ulster's 27th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's third season as head coach. Iain Henderson was captain. They competed in the Pro14, the Pro14 Rainbow Cup, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
The 2019–20 season was Ulster's 26th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's second season as head coach. Lock Iain Henderson was named captain in place of retired hooker Rory Best. They competed in the Pro14 and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Both competitions were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, he later stages being played in August, September and October 2020. In the Pro14, Ulster finished second in Conference A, making the playoffs and qualifying for next season's Champions Cup. They beat Edinburgh in the semi-final, but lost to Leinster in the final. They finished second in Pool 3 in the Champions Cup, qualifying for the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Toulouse.
The 2018–19 season was Ulster's 25th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's first season as head coach. Rory Best was captain. They competed in the Pro14, making the semi-finals, and the European Rugby Champions Cup, making the quarter-finals.
The 2016–17 season was Ulster's 23rd season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and the third under Director of Rugby Les Kiss and head coach Neil Doak. They completed in the European Rugby Champions Cup and the final season of the Pro12 before it became the Pro14 with the addition of two teams from South Africa.
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