Dejected Dobson Adamant Stormers Will Bounce Back 

A despondent John Dobson cut a dejected figure as he lamented a ‘very disappointing result’ with the DHL Stormers suffering their third defeat in a row in the Vodacom Rugby Championship.

After back-to-back defeats against the Sharks, the Stormers director of rugby was hoping his side would bounce back following a much-needed three-week break but instead witnessed his side fall to the jaws of defeat against the Lions at Ellis Park. 

In the aftermath of defeat to the Sharks, Dobson was clear on what aspects of the game needed to be worked on, but to his dismay, while some elements improved, others reared their ugly heads.

“Its a very disappointing result for us. Some of the stuff we looked at from Durban we got right, but we made far too many mistakes,” said Dobson.

“In the first half, we coughed up nine turnovers and had too many handling errors. We kept doing that, unfortunately.”

The Lions dominated early proceedings and had scrum dominance initially; however, the Stormers’ game improved after the break, especially when Dobson made the changes and sent fresh legs onto the pitch.

Despite this, and seeing the Lions reduced to 13 men at one stage, the Stormers were still unable to take advantage of the situation and put points on the scoreboard. 

“Despite the start, I thought we had enough time, especially when down to 13 to turn the game, but we didn’t show any sort of composure even in the dying minutes,” admitted Dobson.

“Two balls went out the back of the hands into touch when we were chasing the bonus point, and we were held up three times over the line.”

Dobson will be frustrated and left ruing missed opportunities as the Stormers had a Marcel Theunissen try disallowed for obstruction, as well as two efforts by Wandisile Simelane and Andre-Hugo Venter held up when tries seemed certain.

“There can be an argument for one or two other incidents and situations that could’ve been interpreted differently, with perhaps a try looked at, but in truth, we didn’t deserve to win it,” Dobson exclaimed. 

“There were some promising scrumming signs, but we will have to relook the maul again, and the discipline needs to be much better. It’s helluva disappointing,” he said. 

“Three defeats in a row are not good for us. I still think we showed signs of being a reasonable team, and we will be back.”

Aware that the support they receive from the Cape Town faithful is some of the best in the country, Dobson made sure to offer an apology to the fans. 

“We just want to apologise to our supporters for this run of results.”