Johan Coetzee commits for another two years

Apr 9 • General News, National • 2389 Views • Comments Off on Johan Coetzee commits for another two years

Tom Botha and Clayton Blommetjies

Free State Rugby has confirmed that Tom Botha and Clayton Blommetjies will be leaving the Toyota Cheetahs after the Guinness PRO14 season. Botha will be joining Ospreys and Blommetjies, Scarlets in Wales for the 2018/19 Guinness PRO14 season.

Johan Coetzee commits for another two years

The Free State Cheetahs (Pty) Ltd is delighted to announce that the tight head prop, Johan (Aranos) Coetzee, has committed for another two seasons with the Toyota Cheetahs.

Despite several offers from overseas rugby clubs, Coetzee has decided to extend his contract with the Toyota Cheetahs.

“Aranos is a player that I rate highly”, said Daan Human, Toyota Cheetah scrum coach. “He is one of the hardest working players in the team and has an unbelievable work rate. If you look at the amount of tackles he makes and work on field, I rate him far above the average tight head in South Africa.”

Coetzee was born in Windhoek and attended High Agricultural School Boland in Paarl. He made his test debut for Namibia on 6 June 2015 in their 2015 Africa Cup match against Tunisia in Nabeul.

Aranos represented the Leopards U21s (2008 and 2009), and he played Varsity Cup rugby for NWU Pukke (2010). He made his first-class debut for the Leopards in 2010. After the 2010 he moved to France, where he joined Top 14 side Racing Métro (2010-2012) before moving to Brive (2012-2015).

Coetzee returned to South Africa to join the Free State Cheetahs for the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, but he missed the tournament through his involvement with Namibia at the 2015 Rugby World Cup where he played in four matches.

He made his Currie Cup debut for the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in 2016 against WP and played in the Semi Final against the Lions in Bloemfontein and in the Home Final against the Blue Bulls. (2016 Currie Cup Champions).

Aranos Coetzee was named the Toyota Cheetah’s Vodacom SuperRugby Player of the Year for 2017 and represented the Toyota Cheetahs in 51 matches so far.