John Dobson says the Stormers danger lacking the Vodacom URC playoffs in the event that they don’t study from the group’s “worst defensive efficiency in years”.
The Stormers beat Connacht 34-29 on Saturday in a 10-try thriller at Cape City Stadium. Man of the Match Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 24 factors, together with a hat-trick of tries and the late penalty that secured the bonus-point victory for the hosts.
His imaginative and prescient and aptitude introduced unpredictability to the Stormers’ sport, typified by a intelligent chip-and-chase for his third attempt.
Nonetheless, the outcome was overshadowed by a defensive effort far beneath the usual that noticed the Cape outfit host back-to-back URC finals and win the 2021-22 title.
Connacht crossed the whitewash 5 occasions because the Stormers conceded momentum by poor reads and missed tackles. The house aspect’s erratic defensive construction and lack of self-discipline — Warrick Gelant copped a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on within the second half — stored the Irish group within the contest.
The eighth-placed Stormers host Benetton subsequent week, earlier than ending the league schedule in opposition to Dragons (10 Might) and Cardiff (16 Might) within the race to the playoffs.
RECAP: Sacha stars for Stormers in 10-try thriller
Dobson, although, has a bleak outlook on their possibilities of ending within the prime eight following Saturday’s efficiency.
“We deserved to lose that sport to be trustworthy, you’re not going to go far on this match in the event you defend like that,” the Stormers boss instructed SuperSport in a post-match interview. “They opened us up at will, I assumed we’d misplaced the sport and to be trustworthy, I assumed we deserved to lose.
“We’re a group that prides ourselves on defence. That’s most likely the worst defensive efficiency in years.
“I don’t know what’s incorrect with our defence in the meanwhile. Connacht are the very best attacking group, statistically, within the competitors. However that doesn’t account for what we did there; gradual off the road, lack of deal with battle.
“It’s going to be an fascinating change room now as a result of both we modify, or we go play three extra residence video games and that’s going to be it.
“Perhaps it’s the wake-up we wanted.”
Photograph: Shaun Roy/Sportsfile by way of Getty Pictures
