’ZEE WHIZZ
Timoney hails Marcell but South African announces his plan to return home
NICK TIMONEY believes Ulster are poised to lose one of the best No.8s in the world when Marcell Coetzee swaps Belfast for the Bulls next summer.
Dan Mcfarland’s men have been rocked by news the superstar Springbok is returning to South Africa at the end of the season.
It is a major blow for Ulster to lose Coetzee who has been a star turn for the province and scored eight tries in six PRO14 appearances this season.
The dynamic 29-year-old, who looks set to join the Pretoria-based Bulls, tops the competition’s charts for tries scored, carries, successful carries and offloads.
Ahead of today’s interpro at Connacht, Timoney said: “Marcell is one of the best, if not the best, No.8 in Europe – in fact the world.
“I remember some of the younger Munster lads being asked about South African World cup winner RG Snyman and how excited they were about him coming. They were full of praise about getting to work with him and that’s the same as myself with Marcell, he’s world class.”
Coetzee, who joined Ulster from the Sharks in 2016, earned a recall to the Springboks last year and took his caps tally to 30 before injury ruled him out of the World Cup.
“You’re rubbing shoulders with one of the best in the world,” said Timoney. “He’ll probably be playing for South Africa against the Lions in the summer and was unlucky to get injured for the last World Cup.”
Dan Mcfarland and his players don’t have time to dwell on Coetzee’s imminent exit with Connacht lying in wait at The Sportsgrounds. Ulster have won their opening eight PRO14 games – six of them bonus wins – but head to Galway on the back of two Euro defeats to Toulouse and Gloucester.
Timoney said: “We felt we could have come out the other side of the European games had we done a few things differently. You want to get back into form and it has been such a good season apart from those last couple of results.”
Timoney, who starts in the back row alongside Jodi Murphy and Greg Jones, is acutely aware Ulster last beat Connacht on southern soil in 2015. Daunting games against Conference B trailblazers Munster (H) and Leinster (A) also lie in wait in the days ahead on January 2 and 8.
“Winning these interpros is really important for us,” he said. “We’ve also got a bit of a point to prove against Connacht as we haven’t gone that well against them. This year dealing with the frustrations from the European games can only really be done by three really big performances.”
Ulster are without injured trio Coetzee, Sam Carter and Sean Reidy for tonight’s game. CONNACHT: O’halloran; Porch, Arnold, Daly, Healy; Carty, Blade; Buckley, Delahunt, Bealham; Dillane, Roux; Masterson, Oliver, Butler. ULSTER: Lowry; Gilroy, Hume, Moore, Mcilroy; Madigan, Mathewson; Mccall, Andrew, O’toole; O’connor, Treadwell; Jones, Murphy, Timoney.
It was a good lesson to get five points and deny them anything