Dobson laments Stormers missed opportunity but grateful for three points

DHL Stormers director of rugby had a similar take on Friday night’s 38-all draw with Ulster in Belfast that most of his team’s supporters would have - he was frustrated that they didn’t bank the full house of five log points but in the end felt fortunate to have grabbed a last gasp draw.

The penalty try awarded to the Stormers a few seconds from fulltime enabled the Cape side bank three log points in their penultimate league fixture. It wasn’t enough to stay top ahead of Glasgow, who thumped Cardiff at home on the same night, but it does put them in a very strong position in the quest for at least a top two spot and Glasgow, now one point ahead, have to visit Ravenshill to face rejuvenated Ulster next weekend.
The Stormers will be in Cardiff on Friday night for their final game and a win, which they have a good chance of getting if they just improve a few aspects of their game, will ensure a top two finish, meaning home advantage in both a quarterfinal and semifinal if they get that far. If they pick up five log points and Glasgow pick up only four or lose in Belfast, then the Stormers will finish top.

It shouldn’t really have had to come down to the Stormers having to rely on Ulster to do them any favours next week though as the frustration from their viewpoint was that throughout the match looked on the cusp of breaking open the dam wall and winning comfortably, only to let themselves down with defensive lapses as well as some lamentable moments of indiscipline.

FOURIE’S SEASON ENDED BY ULSTER CAPTAIN’S FOUL PLAY

There was also the untimely injury to Deon Fourie early in the game that robbed the visitors of the two fetcher presence later on that they were banking on to turn the screws on their opponents. It also robbed them of Fourie’s leadership, with the flanker carrying the captain’s armband in the game because of the injury enforced absence of Ruhan Nel.

According to Dobson Fourie tore ligaments in his knee and is set to miss the rest of the season. The injury came about due to a croc-roll that saw Ulster captain and Ireland international lock Iain Henderson given a red card.

“That kind of incident really needs to be removed from the game and I think that is something that should see the player sent off for the entire game (and not just 20 minutes),” said Dobson afterwards.

“I feel very sorry for Deon and it is also a big blow for us, particularly given the form that Deon was in.”

The injuries are mounting now for the Stormers, who lost another Springbok in Cobus Reinach to injury in the previous game against Glasgow, but there was enough in the performance, frustrating though it was because they really should have won the game, to be confident of their chances of doing well in the playoffs, with a place in the knock-outs and in the top four that secures a home quarterfinal now pretty much assured.

BITTER-SWEET NIGHT FOR COACH

The Stormers left Cape Town earlier in the week though looking for a first ever top place finish, so the fact it was an opportunity missed left Dobson in a bitter-sweet mood afterwards.

“It was a bit of a mixed one for us as we are very frustrated that we didn’t get five points as at some stages our dominance was pretty imperious but I also thought we were lucky in the end to manage to get three (by sneaking the late draw),” he said.

“That we didn’t get five was frustrating because we conceded needless penalties, two of them in try scoring positions and one of those was effectively a 14 point swing. There was also a knock on before that from Evan (Roos) near the tryline when it looked like we probably would have scored. Then Imad (Khan) was played before receiving the ball and knocked on. Those were four missed tries. That was frustrating as they were our mistakes.

“But the hard thing was that the game was played in very difficult conditions with a swirling wind. Our contestable game is an area we have worked so hard on becoming good at and we lost one or two scraps there. Ulster were better than us there which is not how it has been for us in the last while.

“We are also a team that relies a lot on scrumming dominance and in this game we did not have one put in. That limits the easy route to penalties that presents. They also dealt with our maul very effectively which meant we had to find other ways to attack them, so in that sense I was pleased we still got on top of them and scored four tries (plus the penalty try).”

LET DOWN BY INDIVIDUAL ERRORS

Dobson didn’t want to point fingers but admitted it was a night where the team was let down by individual errors. Despite scoring the first try and looking threatening as a carrier, No 8 Roos had a nightmare and as he was responsible for two penalties that were conceded in try scoring positions, the second of which led to an Ulster try at the other end.

“Without pointing fingers we did make some pretty poor individual mistakes and take those away we would have won quite comfortably. It was definitely a game we thought we should have won, and that is not taking anything away from Ulster.”

Ultimately though getting three was no train smash and Dobson took enough away from the game to feel confident his team will do what is needed when they finish the league phase in Cardiff next Friday.

“We need to improve our discipline against Cardiff and I don’t think we will go through another game without getting a scrum on our ball. Some of our set ups around contestable kicking also need to be worked on but that can easily be improved.”

The result means the Stormers still have to win at Kingspan Stadium, where they have had some titanic and close struggles over the years, but by leaving with a draw they did keep their unbeaten record in the URC on overseas soil this season intact.