John Dobson identifies the reasons for Stormers’ ‘very disappointing’ defeat to Connacht
The Stormers players form a huddle during a match and their director of rugby John Dobson (inset).
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson identified a loose and error-ridden performance as the reason for his side’s shock 33-24 defeat against Connacht in Cape Town on Saturday.
Connacht were full value for their bonus-point victory as they held an edge for long periods and eventually outscored their hosts by five tries to three.
The result means Stuart Lancaster’s troops still have a good chance of qualifying for the United Rugby Championship‘s (URC) play-offs as they are currently occupying ninth spot in the tournament’s standings – one point adrift of the Bulls.
Meanwhile, it was an emotional week for the Stormers following the untimely passing of their long-serving team manager Chippie Solomon.
The men from the Cape are still in second position in the URC standings but are level on points with Leinster, who beat Ulster on Friday, while Glasgow Warriors are sitting pretty atop the table despite suffering a huge loss against the Lions on Saturday.
Dobson did not mince his words when highlighting the reasons for his side’s defeat to Connacht.
Bemoans ‘individual errors’
“I think it was individual errors, and if we don’t make some of those mistakes, we don’t lose the game,” he said after the match. “There was the bounce of a kick, a dropped restart and an intercept.
“Those moments cost us.
“I can’t really talk to the emotion, but I don’t think we can use Chippie and the tough week we had as an excuse for some of those mistakes. We were beaten.”
Dobson could not hide his disappointment with the result, which leaves them with a difficult assignment against the Warriors in Cape Town next weekend before they head overseas to take on Ulster and Cardiff ahead of the play-offs.
“To get nothing out of the Connacht game is very disappointing,” he said.
“We now have to win all three remaining games to get where we want to be, but that’s much easier said than done.
“First up is Glasgow and then two 4G pitch matches away against two teams competing for the top eight.
“The Stormers were loose throughout the game against Connacht. There were a couple of patches in the first half that we spoke about where we shuffled it around.
“We had their maul on the ropes, and at one instance we had a quick throw-in to Warrick Gelant, but then Damian Willemse threw a forward pass.
“Connacht then got the scrum and ended up scoring. I thought we were very loose.
“We said at half-time, let’s be more direct and limit the passing. But we kept shovelling the ball back repeatedly and conceded a penalty for sealing off.
‘The template was there to do it’
“It felt at times we needed to invent to beat them, when in reality the template was there to do it because we saw it with our mauling getting on top.
“We had the last scrum; I know it’s their ball.
“The Stormers have a great tight five, and we didn’t move them a centimetre in a scrum we needed to win to get two log points, and we didn’t do that, so Connacht did well.”
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Stormers skipper Ruhan Nel echoed Dobson’s sentiments and said poor concentration proved costly in the grander scheme of things.
“I felt we defended well at certain times, and then there was just a lack of concentration due to simple decisions, which gave them either a penalty that led to an entry or we scored points and conceded soon after,” he said.
“That defeat is on us. I don’t think we can fault the plan or the understanding of it. That was 100% there. It was about execution.
“In the second half we probably became a bit individualistic. I don’t know, but we became desperate.”