‘There’s nobody we are really scared of’ – Stormers inspired after crucial bonus point win over Dragons

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson insists there is no team in the United Rugby Championship that his side should fear.

Dobson’s men claimed a crucial bonus point victory over the Dragons at Rodney Parade on Friday thanks to four tries in the last 13 minutes as the Stormers ran out 21-44 winners away from home.

No fear

The full house of points was vital for their play-off hopes which seem to be close to being secured.

While Dobson knows the sloppy loss to Ospreys at home in Round 14 cost them a top-four spot, the coach drew on Munster’s run-in to the title last season as inspiration.

“Look, I think the top four probably went when we lost to Ospreys,” Dobson said. “But we will keep fighting. Munster won everything away last year, even though that is clutching a bit at straws.

“We’ve put ourselves in the frame for it now. What we just couldn’t have let happen, is not play and not be in the top eight and the play-offs.

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“There’s nobody we are really scared of in this competition,” Dobson added. “There’s nobody we would be scared of going away to or anything like that.

“If we had lost it would have been really traumatic for us. We are in the fight now. If some other results go our way, we could finish in the top four, which will be great. Our focus is on experiences like this, so we can start winning away. That’s why this was so important.”

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Quiet in coaches box

While the Stormers ended up comfortable victors it was not that way for a lot of the game with the Dragons playing very well for most of the match.

Dobson admits it was tense for the coaches but is proud of how his team held on defensively and used that to spring attacks.

“In the coaches box it was very quiet,” he said. “We were in purgatory, I couldn’t believe what was happening because this game was so important for us. The team seemed to have much more confidence than us.

“The big turning moment wasn’t actually anything on attack. It was when they got back into our 22 when they were 21-16 up and we held them out. There were some immense tackles. You could just see this team say, ‘enough is enough now’.

“Winning away and seeing that Stormers fight and those transitions, it might sound silly, but it’s important to us. I will give the players credit because in the coaches box we were a bit more panicked than the players. We did really well to turn it around.”

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