Dobson: Change In Behaviour Needed

Following successive defeats to the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship, which has now seen the Stormers lose three games out of their last four in all competitions, director of rugby John Dobson bemoaned his side’s repeated offences and inability to learn from past mistakes. 

In a game that saw the Stormers concede more penalties than the week before and relinquish a ten-point second-half lead, Dobson admitted that a change of behaviour is required after a concerning dip in form.

“The most frustrating thing is that whatever went wrong last week went wrong this week, other than the start to each half,” Dobson said. 

The Stormers were guilty of many infringements as they struggled to contain the opposition’s territorial threat, and although they went into the lead at half-time, they were fortunate to be in that position. 

“Giving away penalties and some discipline issues – those are things we need to fix, and there needs to be a behaviour change. We didn’t respond, and it was really poor of us,” Dobson admitted. 

Facing the same opponent in successive weeks offered the Stormers a rare opportunity for immediate correction, but Dobson conceded his side failed to capitalise, particularly after many of the same problems resurfaced following last week’s defeat in Cape Town.

“We saw what went wrong and thought we’d get it fixed,” he said. 

“It was our failure to improve on what we did wrong last week.”

Dobson then stressed again, “We need to change our behaviour.”

If the Stormers are to turn around their fortunes, they will need to address their discipline, execution, and inability to respond under pressure, as Dobson offered a frank assessment. 

“Something we spoke about in the week was starting the halves well, we got both right, but the rest wasn’t enough,” he said.

“We didn’t win the contestable game as much as we would’ve liked to. For me, the problem was our discipline, the lack of conversion and stopping conversion five metres from our line.”

With successive defeats now behind them, Dobson acknowledged that reflection alone will not be enough – behavioural change, he stressed, is essential if the Stormers are to rediscover their edge.

Just two weeks ago, the Cape Town outfit were unbeaten and looking strong in first place on the table – but have now fallen to third and look vulnerable with a further two derbies on the Highveld coming up. 

The team is currently enjoying a three-week break and will have the opportunity to rest their bodies before they restore old rivalries and battle the Lions at Ellis Park on 28 February.