Cape Town — Jake White won’t be able to be with the Blue Bulls Currie Cup team this weekend, but they will have the experienced Marcell Coetzee in tow in Saturday’s clash against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld (5.30pm kickoff).
The drama around Coetzee this week was finalised on Friday when White confirmed that the loose forward was not eligible for the United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Stormers in Cape Town.
The 31-year-old flank arrived from his sabbatical in Japan earlier this week, but could not be registered with the URC as the deadline was on March 30.
The Bulls applied for a special dispensation, but were rejected by the organisers.
“He is a loss. He is one of the better players we’ve had and is the captain of our group. He has an aura about him — players like playing with him, and like being part of the group,” White said on Friday.
“But like I said: you can only control what you control. One of the things we had to do for his future was to afford him an opportunity to have a sabbatical for him to stay with us for three more seasons.
“And, if it meant that he can’t play this game for whatever reason – deregistering and registering him, I understand that you can’t play in two competitions, and I can’t see a Japanese club deregistering a guy when there are three weeks left of a competition in Japan.
“Would I have packaged it like this, where we can keep him on our books for three more seasons, based on him missing this game? Well, I am sure I would have.
“It creates an opportunity for everyone else, and Marco (van Staden) and Elrigh (Louw) are Springboks and are both vying for World Cup positions as well.”
But at least Coetzee will front up for the Bulls Currie Cup side against a high-riding Sharks outfit who are coming off a 24-6 victory over Griquas in Durban.
Joey Mongalo’s team also saw off the Cheetahs 24-17 in Bloemfontein a week before, with their last defeat coming against the Bulls at Kings Park on April 14.
The Bulls went down 31-7 to Western Province last weekend, and need to pick up points to get back into semi-final contention.
They are currently seventh with 17 points after eight matches, with WP fourth on 21, while the Sharks are third on 23 behind log leaders the Cheetahs on 31 and second-placed Pumas on 29.
“Zoom will be helping. We will have coaches there, and straight after the (Stormers game), I will be working with the coaches,” White said when asked who would be calling the shots for the Loftus match.
“The Sharks are the one side that have beaten the Pumas and the Cheetahs, and those two teams are on top of the log – they have managed to beat the two teams that are flying at the moment.
“So, we’re not expecting anything different from them.”
Teams for Loftus Versfeld
Blue Bulls: 15 Juan Mostert 14 Kabelo Mokoena 13 Marco Jansen van Vuren 12 Chris Barend Smit 11 Sbu Nkosi 10 Morné Steyn (captain) 9 Zak Burger 8 WJ Steenkamp 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain) 6 Marcell Coetzee 5 Charlie Ewels 4 Jacques du Plessis 3 Robert Hunt 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Bench: 16 Joe van Zyl 17 Lizo Gqoboka 18 Sebastian Lombard 19 Merwe Olivier 20 Mihlali Mosi 21 Eugene Hare 22 Cornal Hendricks 23 Franco Knoetze.
Sharks: 15 Thaakir Abrahams 14 Phikolonzi Sobahle 13 Murray Koster 12 Alwayno Visagie 11 Yaw Penxe 10 Lionel Cronjé 9 Tiaan Fourie 8 Henco Venter 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 Tinotenda Mavesere 5 Ockie Barnard 4 Reniel Hugo (captain) 3 Khutha Mchunu 2 Dan Jooste 1 Khwezi Mona.
Bench: 16 Dameon Venter 17 Dian Bleuler 18 Wiehahn Herbst 19 Marco de Witt 20 Damon Royle 21 Mpilo Gumede 22 Zee Mkhabela 23 Fred Zeilinga.
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