Dobson: It Was Worst Performance Of The Season

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson reflected on a performance that belied their top-of-the-table standing and brought about concern regarding their inability to execute their chances with any efficiency. 

The warning signs have been there for the Stormers, who suffered their first defeat in this season’s United Rugby Championship against the Sharks in front of a capacity crowd at DHL Stadium on Saturday.

More concerning, though, was the manner of the defeat that would’ve left the Stormers coaching staff pulling their hair out.

With several entries into the 22, the number of turnovers conceded, and the number of attacking lineouts lost, this performance was far from what we have all grown accustomed to from the URC table toppers.

“This is exactly what we talked about afterwards. Both sides of the line-outs, the entries into the 22 – that and the discipline. To give away foul play penalties is frustrating,” said Dobson.

With the Stormers getting an immediate opportunity to rectify this result since they take on the Sharks in the reverse fixture in Durban next week, Dobson managed a wry smile as he said, “I suppose that is the silver lining.”

“There is an element that the bogey is off our back. I don’t want to say we beat ourselves because the Sharks were good – their plans were good, and they played with passion, but had we addressed the issues, the score could’ve been in our favour,” he added.

“If you look at URC stats before this game, we were number one in the lineout, maul, and scrum. Today [Saturday], we didn’t get that picture.”

Visibly hurting from the defeat, made worse that it was against a rival and not needing much motivation for the return game, Dobson added, “It was a curious game – you couldn’t fault the work rate or the desire to win, and until those lineouts it was a typical performance for this year.

“You start getting dominance around 65 minutes – we had a couple of lineouts and on 68 minutes there was the match turning one where we are five yards out with the score at 22-12 and if we score there,” Dobson stopped short leaving the media in attendance to fill in the blanks, “but it ends up in a yellow card and a penalty.”

The Stormers have often been accused of playing a more free-flowing game in Cape Town compared to their more pragmatic approach on the road – something that might’ve worked against them. 

“I don’t think we played to entertain – I didn’t have that impression once, in fact. It was just the elements of the discipline and both sides of the lineout,” he said. 

Dobson felt a sense of disappointment for the capacity crowd that came to offer their support, only to witness what Dobson referred to as “our worst performance of the season.”

“What feels horrible is that the people of Cape Town have come out and we produced our worst performance of the season, so from that point of view it feels terrible.”

The defeat means the Stormers have dropped from top spot on the URC table to second – overtaken by Glasgow Warriors, although they’ve played a game less – and will have an opportunity to amend Saturday’s result whilst getting back to winning ways.