The stalwart finished the Greatest Rivalry Tour match utterly spent, hands on knees at the final whistle. But the talisman put in a superb shift in his fifth outing against the All Blacks, 12 years removed from the last time he faced them in a Springbok jersey.
Revelling in the challenge, Coetzee topped the tackle charts with 16 and carried for an impressive 80 metres across his 13 runs. He also scored a try in the 72nd minute.
"First of all, playing against the All Blacks again after so many years, you can just see it's another intensity, another ball game," the 35-year-old told the post-match press conference.
"Just to get that taste again, jogging out, seeing the national anthem, facing the Haka, yeah, it's one for the memory bank."
"To be blessed with a try as well. That's all down to pressure from the boys just setting you up. Despite the score and everything, you can see the boys' faces, you know, it was an awesome opportunity, awesome game to be part of," he said.
"Like the coach [Johan Ackermann] said, there's a lot of fixings that we need to do going forward. All in all, very, very, very satisfying."
The All Backs face the Boks in the first Test of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry at 5pm at Ellis Park on Saturday.
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Morne van den Berg completed a remarkable journey from injury doubt to Springbok hero as South Africa defeated New Zealand 43-28 in Baltimore to clinch the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series 3-1.
