John Dobson says the last-gasp victory over Ulster has given the DHL Stormers plenty to mull over ahead of the Champions Cup playoff against La Rochelle next weekend. DYLAN JACK reports.
A 75th-minute try from Evan Roos gave the DHL Stormers a 13-7 victory over Ulster, in a game where the hosts trailed for most of the 80 minutes.
Coming into the match on the back of a bonus-point win over Edinburgh, the Stormers were expected to put on an attacking show, but spent most of the first half in defensive mode, making 73 tackles and seeing just 33% of possession.
“To be honest I was a bit stumped,” Dobson admitted. “They had a similar experience in the second half. The way they kept the ball… I could see why, because we are a transition team, but when we turned the ball over, we were so tired from defending.
“Physically, we were amazing. We kept smashing them in double tackles. But when we got the ball, we just hacked it away or kicked it out.
“It was a lesson for us. We tweaked our defence at half time, but it was a lesson for us.
“What gave us hope was that we were great physically on defence. It was tough.”
The Stormers turned the tide in the second half, dominating possession and territory, but struggled to find a way through Ulster’s defence.
A penalty from Manie Libbok got the Stormers on the board, but it took until Roos crossed the chalk with five minutes to go for the hosts to take the lead, with Libbok converted and adding another penalty after the hooter.
“The second half was exactly the same experience for them. We would enter their 22, cough up the ball – which was frustrating – but they couldn’t start their phase play from there, they had to kick it out, which creates another transition,” Dobson explained.
“So we fed their phase play in the first half and they fed our transition play in the second half. It was a really weird game of rugby. I don’t think there is a solution for either.
“Ulster were outstanding. But the truth is that we butchered three or four tries against the Bulls, at least five or six last week and today it was a similar, if not higher, number.”
Up next for the Stormers is a clash with defending European champions La Rochelle in the Champions Cup round of 16 in Cape Town.
The two sides faced off at Cape Town Stadium in the pool stages in December, when the Stormers snatched a dramatic victory thanks to Libbok’s touchline conversion in the final play of the match.
“Tonight will be very helpful for next week. It will be a different size of animal coming,” Dobson said.
“At least we were playing Stormers rugby in the second half. It’s just frustrating to leave so many tries out there. It will be great preparation, but those first 20 minutes were tough.
“Selection will be a problem, fitting all these guys in. It’s a chicken and egg situation, do you chose to stop La Rochelle, by picking your most physical guys, or do you think you can break them open , which might require something else?
“It’s going to be a test match next week. They are one of the best club teams in the world, better than most Test teams. They would be in the top 10 of World Rugby’s rankings without any stress.”
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
