Marcell Coetzee says there’s belief that Bulls can go all the way in the URC

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee is confident the Pretoria-based team can go all the way in the United Rugby Championship if they stick to their structures and systems. 

Coetzee and his team-mates put on a good display in front of a sold-out Loftus Versfeld to defeat the Stormers 40-22 this past weekend, going on to win the SA Shield in the process, and ensure a changing of the guard in South African rugby.

The win saw the Bulls rise to second place on the URC points table with 40 points. Ahead of them are Irish outfit Leinster, who have 44 points.

‘Belief in the squad’

The Bulls are in a prime position to secure a top-two finish, and their win over the Stormers on Saturday night gives them belief in their charge for a maiden URC title.

“You can only measure yourself when you play against quality sides and the Stormers are a quality side. They have been in the final for two years running,” Coetzee said.

“For the morale, it sort of creates a belief in the squad that we can go all the way if we just stick to the structure and stick to the system. There’s nothing like a big game that glues the team together to complement that,” he said.

Home playoff chase

Bulls mentor Jake White has been boxing cleverly this term, using the lessons learnt in the past seasons to go through this campaign. White noted the importance of playing home playoffs because they give teams an advantage in the knockout stages.

Coetzee reiterated White’s sentiments, saying a home playoff spot is something the team are targeting.

“The biggest message at the beginning of the season was we want to get home playoffs,” he said.

“We learned in the past that if you play away, you just make it harder on yourself. So, we are gunning for the points and looking solid on the log. If you want to be at the top, you have to be the boss in your conference and that’s knocking out derby games,” Coetzee said.

The Bulls resume their URC campaign in a few weeks’ time with a tour of Europe where they will face the Dragons and Leinster.