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Stormers back row Jaco Coetzee joins Bath as club confirm Mercer exit

Jaco Coetzee /Getty

Bath have confirmed the signing of Jaco Coetzee from the Stormers, a replacement for Zach Mercer, who the club confirmed is leaving for Montpellier.

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RugbyPass reported last week that rumours were circulating in South Africa linking the highly-rated forward to Bath, and the club have now confirmed the move, with Director of Rugby Stuart describing it as ‘an unbelievably exciting addition’.

Mercer, who was on the margins of England’s senior squad before an injury set-back, will bid farewell to the club at the end of the current season.

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Andy Farrell and Jonathan Sexton press conference | 2021 Six nations

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Andy Farrell and Jonathan Sexton press conference | 2021 Six nations

“It has been a long-standing dream of mine to play in France – the game is physical and will suit my playing style,” said the No.8. “I feel like I am able to offer the TOP14 something different and that is what I am looking forward to.

“I found it impossible to say no to the offer of a long-term contract with Montpellier and I’m very grateful to have had respectful and honest conversations every step of the way with Hoops (Stuart Hooper). There is a brilliant group of players and staff at Bath and I know they will go on to achieve great things together.”

Hooper accepted that now was the right time for Mercer to leave the club, a move that had surprised the English rugby community.

“Zach is an exceptional player and one who we feel very proud of at Bath,” said Hooper. “He has an exciting time ahead of him in France and after many conversations, we know this is the right move for him at this stage of his career. These conversations, alongside Zach’s maturity as a young man, allowed us the time to secure a high-quality player with the exact attributes we need heading into 2021/22. We will never hold any players back from realising their dreams and on this occasion, we see a brilliant young man leave to do just this.

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“With Jaco’s arrival, we feel we have an unbelievably exciting addition to the squad who will be available to play for the Club for the full season. He’s an intimidating ball carrier and will cause huge problems for our opposition no matter where he is on the field. I’m looking forward to seeing him compete with our current group of strong back rowers to get on the field for us.”

 

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JW 23 minutes ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

12 Go to comments
F
Flankly 50 minutes ago
Jake White: If I was England coach, I’d have been livid

I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

9 Go to comments
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