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Cape Town - It certainly isn’t the way he would have wanted to go out, but Allister Coetzee leaves the Stormers with his head held high and without any regrets.
The 52-year-old took charge of his last game as Stormers coach on Saturday as he watched side outmuscled, outplayed and ultimately outclassed in a 39-19 loss to the Brumbies at Newlands in the Super Rugby playoffs.
The absence of Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Burger may have conspired against the Stormers, but in truth they were nowhere near deserving of a place in the last four of the competition.
Coetzee had sidestepped the emotional aspect of his imminent departure in the build-up to Saturday’s match, but at the post-match press conference he opened up a little on what being a part of the franchise had meant to him over the years.
“It’s been an amazing eight years in Cape Town,” Coetzee said.
“The development of myself as a coach and with my assistant coaches has been amazing. It’s been a great experience.
“I’m pleased with my mission. Maybe not the way I wanted to end tonight but playing and winning two Currie Cups, three Conference trophies … being the best South African side and best transformed side … to me that’s my job done. I’m happy with that, really I’m pleased with that.
“I go with no regrets. I go away very pleased that we’ve won, we transformed and we were sustainable.”
“We didn’t win the big one … the Super Rugby yet. I’ll leave that to the next guy; I’ve done the ground work.”
Commenting on Saturday’s match, Coetzee admitted that his side were simply not good enough on the day.
“This is definitely hurting. This is definitely not the way we pictured it to pan out,” he said.
“But one has got to take this on the chin, move on and give credit to the Brumbies side. They were just better on the day in most departments, especially the breakdown again. They were brutal. They’re deserved winners. There are no excuses to be made.”
Coetzee now departs South Africa to take up a coaching role in Japan with the Kobe Kobelco Steelers.
