Coetzee guns for Lions milestone
EXODUS: FULLBACK STILL HAS UNFINISHED BUSINESS
While he has seen the back of many of his Lions teammates, fullback Andries Coetzee has unfinished business at Ellis Park.
After another four players left the franchise last week, Coetzee is one of a group of only six players remaining from the glory days of 2016 to 2018 when they reached three straight Super Rugby finals.
The others who have stayed put are Courtnall Skosan, Elton Jantjies, Ross Cronje and Dylan Smith, while Jaco Kriel recently returned after leaving in 2018.
“One of my biggest dreams is to play 100 games for the Lions and even finish my career with them depending what the future holds,” said Coetzee, who currently has 98 caps for Joburg’s Pride and one for the Sharks back in 2013.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge when we start playing again and I’m excited.”
Coetzee earned 13 caps for the Springboks in 2017, but has been overlooked ever since Rassie Erasmus took over as coach from Allister Coetzee.
The fullback said when he came back from Japan he wanted to get some quality games behind him and to establish where he stood and challenge himself against the guys ‘’who play for the Boks or at that level’’.
“I haven’t had any communication from Rassie (apart from the alignment camps) over the last few years so I imagine one has to go out there and prove that you still have what it takes,” he said.
“If anything, to see where one stands and maybe challenge for that Bok jersey, but hopefully there’s still a Super Rugby campaign or two left in me. We’ll have to see how it works out,” he said.
Coetzee is lined up with a move back to his Japanese club Kintetsu Liners should Super Rugby not continue, but for now he remains on the Lions’ books.
“It doesn’t help that there’s no rugby at the moment. I was really looking forward to getting some games behind me and just regaining some rhythm,” added Coetzee.