A delighted John Dobson said the DHL Stormers will be travelling to Edinburgh full of confidence after opening their Vodacom URC account with a bonus-point win over an improving Zebre side.
The DHL Stormers scored four tries on their way to a commanding 36-5 bonus-point win in Parma on Saturday night.
It was the first win of the Vodacom URC season for the visitors, as they showed good composure to take all five points on offer in Italy, ahead of the final match on tour against Edinburgh.
With the Stormers bouncing back from a season-opening defeat to Ospreys, Dobson said they will travel to tackle a wounded Edinburgh in high spirits.
“Our goal from the tour is to get two wins. We used our free hit last week,” Dobson said
“Edinburgh will be a very, very different prospect up at the Hive. It’s going to be a difficult game, but we’ve got confidence from tonight. We want to get two wins.
“Had we gone there without a win, we would have lacked a bit of confidence. Now. it’s everything to play for, for us. I feel like we are in a good space.
“The other good thing is even though we planned for Steven Kitshoff and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to be with us today and they couldn’t, it looks like we haven’t picked up any injuries. We are a healthy and happy squad and we will put everything into getting a second win on tour next weekend.”
Flyhalf Jurie Matthee kicked 14 points, while Leolin Zas scored a brace and was joined on the scoresheet by fellow wings Angelo Davids and Suleiman Hartzenberg as the Stormers broke down a resolute Zebre side.
“It was always going to be a scoreboard-pressure building of the innings. We must give credit to Zebre. They are a very different team,” Dobson said.
‘Their defence and physicality may not have come across on TV, but it was like a wall in front of us. We just had to build the scoreboard pressure to make them chase the game.
“With 15 minutes to go, we were where we wanted to be, building the innings. There were one or two forced passes when we realised a fourth try was on the table and decided to push for it. But we really wanted to bank a win.
“In terms of what we wanted, this was exactly the performance. We put them under the pump physically. It took a lot to break that defensive wall down.
“The message came up from the players that the ball was slippery because of the conditions, so we struggled to get distance passes. But we are happy.”
Photo: Roberto Bregani/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
