John Dobson says the DHL Stormers are determined to bounce back from a tough tour in their home games against Munster and Glasgow Warriors in Cape Town. DYLAN JACK reports.
The DHL Stormers are back at home after a rollercoaster Vodacom URC season-opening three-week tour, looking to rebound in Saturday’s clash with Munster.
The tour kicked off with a frustrating defeat to the Ospreys in Bridgend, where the Stormers struggled to find their rhythm. They bounced back with a morale-boosting bonus-point win against Zebre in Parma but stumbled again in Edinburgh, losing to a well-drilled side at the Hive Stadium.
With the clash with Munster followed by another home game against defending champions Glasgow Warriors, Dobson says the Stormers know they have to make the most of the short run of games in Cape Town.
“There’s a determination. None of our performances on tour lacked any sort of effort. It was a tough evening in Edinburgh,” Dobson said.
“There’s a real determination to put it right tomorrow. If we get through tomorrow and next week, if they go like most URC games, then we will be in a different world, with three wins from five.
“That makes tomorrow important. We also haven’t played a game in Cape Town since May. To be back here is fantastic and the field is in great shape, so we are looking forward to it.”
Much of the pre-game talk for Saturday’s clash has been around the Stormers’ record against Munster, as the hosts are hunting their first win against the Irish side.
However, Dobson says that the 0-4 record has not weighed too heavily on the Stormers, as they know that previous games could easily have gone in their favour.
“If one looks at the performances and scorelines, there isn’t a weight of history on us. When we faced Munster on the first URC tour, it was like a whole different world.
“There is an awareness around it. Munster are a really good side. We just need to be better. We do want to stop the trend, but it’s not like the Boston Red Sox, where it’s 80 years before they win the World Series. We aren’t thinking about that too much.”
A point of frustration for the Stormers from their tour has been around the officiating performances, as they struggled to get a reward from a dominant scrum in the first 60 minutes in Edinburgh and struggled to adapt to the referee’s interpretation of the breakdown.
However, Dobson says that he and captain Dan du Plessis had a productive meeting with URC officiating chief Tappe Henning and hopes to have cleared up the scrum and breakdown.
“We’ve just finished a conversation now with Tappe. We tried to clear some things up. Those areas are the source of frustration. We have a great scrum culture here and some teams try to avoid it, which is frustrating for us.
“It’s an important ongoing discussion, but we had a good chat with Tappe.”
Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images
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