By Tom Little.
July 30 2013

Coventry Rugby are pleased to confirm that they have signed  South African born back row forward Geré Mareé, from Portuguese side Academica, Coimbra. 

Geré aged 28 next week, was born in Durban and moved to Portugal four seasons ago. An acquaintance of Jacques Le Roux, Geré relishes the opportunity to play at a higher level of rugby.

A tall 6ft 3in fast mobile player although Geré is primarily no 7 he is able to play in all back row positions. He has been used to the hard grounds of his native South Africa, and of course Portugal. He has experience of playing in the various age groups in South Africa, as well as two seasons senior rugby with the Bulls followed by two later seasons with Western Province. He was also coached by the famous International lock Victor Matfield.

Now a Portuguese passport holder Geré is expected to become a member of the Portuguese National side. However his first priority is to settle in here at Coventry Rugby and help Coventry obtain their potential as well as his own, as he feels that an excellent squad has been assembled here.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

30^th July 2013.

Coventry rugby sign Portuguese back row.

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 30/07/2013 08:21

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
30/07/2013 08:21

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Laugh Out Loud (Dave Roach)
30/07/2013 08:24

Welcome to COV Geré... I'm looking forward to watching an excellent backrow this season

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Bono546
30/07/2013 08:58

Sounds as though the excellent back row we already have has been strengthened - competition for places all round seems to have increased which can only be good for the club, the supporters and hopefully our league position

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Geoff Kennedy
30/07/2013 09:15

Second row still worries me. We have only 3 on books - one now senior coach.
Hope Gere makes as much an impact as Jacques did last season.
With South African, Welsh and Irish players in the pack our lineout calls could become multilingual.
Pricey would love that

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Kimbo
30/07/2013 09:55

Welcome to Cov Geré.
Don't get carried away with expectations of the 'hard grounds' thing

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Just Rugby
30/07/2013 16:58

Quite excited by this signing but a bit unsure how to pronounce the name.

In my head I am saying it like a pirate??????

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covkid53
30/07/2013 18:50

As a German/French speaker, usually an accent or umlaut in German/ Dutch changes the sound of the letter, the e at the end of a word is never silent i.e. porsche is pronounced "porsher" in German.

so..... and I probably wrong here, I would pronounce it..

Gerray Marray..... but best ask him.... LOL !

Welcome Gere.

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Cliff Bennett
30/07/2013 19:03

It's not far off Gerry Mander, is it, and I can pronounce that!

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tom snr
30/07/2013 23:41

Evidently gere in this case is french so final e is not pronounced,but final e in maree is pronounced so ger marie is the best i can do-dont worry nobody in South Africa can pronounce the first name either.

tom little

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Kimbo
31/07/2013 13:16

But it has an accent on it Tom, so why would it not be pronounced? I'm with CK53 on this, so his explanation will suffice.
But I'll just call him Dave to be on the safe side...

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tom snr
31/07/2013 13:57

My explanation came from the player himself.

tom little

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Kimbo
31/07/2013 17:13

Oh well, that explains it....

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titchywinger
31/07/2013 21:48

We wait with baited breath for the definitive pronunciation over the tannoy at the Butts.Anyhow,welcome Gere.Enjoy your time at Coventry.

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Kimbo
02/08/2013 09:38

What are you going to bait it with? Garlic?

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covkid53
03/08/2013 01:05

Ah... but, is a french name actually french when given to a SA or Dutchman ?

Surely the named person's country's own accents would prevail ?

Philip.... spoken as "Fileep" for example

Same spelling, different in England/ France.

So with the little accent on the e it must be Gerray....

I rest my case and I'm off to bed...hahahaha

.

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