John Dobson gives brutal assessment of Stormers' 'extremely poor' tour
John Dobson is one of the cheeriest, most upbeat figures in the game, so when he cuts a dejected figure you know times are challenging.
It was all smiles for much of the DHL Stormers’ first two seasons in the BKT URC, with Dobson’s team reaching back-to-back finals.
But now they have hit their first major bump in the road – or on the road to be precise – losing four successive matches away from home, against Glasgow Warriors, Benetton, Munster and Cardiff Rugby.
It’s left them down in twelfth in the table and there was no disguising Dobson’s disappointment as he spoke at the Arms Park following Friday night’s 31-24 defeat to Cardiff Rugby.
“It’s been a poor tour for us and – as our skipper Brok Harris said in the changing room – we all need to have a look at ourselves at what we could have done better right the way through.” he said.
“The two games we probably identified to win – Benetton and Cardiff – we chucked away, which is very disappointing.
“As a collective, we haven’t done ourselves any favours on our tour. I don’t think the competition thinks more of us, I don’t think some of the players or staff feel as good about themselves as we did.
“When we came on tour, we were hoping to get two wins and we haven’t got any.”
Dobson had been in buoyant mood going into the game, saying how much he had been encouraged by the performance in the 10-3 defeat to Munster and talking about his fondness for Welsh rugby.
And it looked as though he was going to have further reason for optimism as the Stormers raced into a 14-0 lead after just 12 minutes at the Arms Park.
Even though Cardiff fought back, Dobson’s men were still 24-14 up with less than half an hour to go and seemingly on course to end their European tour on a winning note.
But it wasn’t to be, as the hosts drew level and then clinched a dramatic victory with a try deep in stoppage time from replacement prop Rhys Litterick.
“Cardiff played with real fight, but we were extremely poor,” said Dobson.
“For us to give seven scrum put-ins in the second half just through losing the ball in contact or by knocking on is not good enough at BKT URC level. There was some pretty careless handling.
“We seemed to just want to make Hail Marys all the time. It was a really poor performance by us in that respect.
“We pride ourselves on our defence, but we are hurting because it wasn’t our best defensive performance by any stretch. We gave too many yards, we gave them space on the outside, they got round us, we didn’t work hard enough for a couple of their tries.
“Other than the set-piece, it was a really poor performance – defence, attack, the contestable game, the kicking game.
“I didn’t expect us to play like that, I must say. That wasn’t a pleasant experience.
“It was by far our worst performance on this trip. It was a very disappointing way to finish the tour and a disappointing tour.”
What the losing run has done however is confirm Dobson’s growing belief that the BKT URC is the toughest it’s ever been right now.
“I feel it’s even more competitive this season, very much so,” said the 54-year-old.
“Everywhere you look, there’s a fixture or two that you can’t predict. I get the feeling no-one is going to pull away.
“We are all in a dogfight, there’s no question.”
Dobson has said the Stormers’ theme for this campaign is to be the hunters, with a nod to South African culture.
When it’s put to him they really have to do some hunting down now, he quips they are going to starve unless they improve.
On a serious note, he acknowledges there is a real need to turn things around, starting with next Saturday’s Round 7 fixture against Zebre Parma at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.
“We are certainly not off to a cracking start,” he admitted.
“Four defeats at this stage is a lot if you want to get to the sharp end of the competition, so we have got a lot of work to do.
“We will have some personnel back, we will play some games at home – we have had five games on the road – and we will start putting together some much better performances.”
Dobson admits the pressure is on given the success the Stormers have enjoyed in their first two seasons in the BKT URC.
“If we don’t make at least a semi-final, we are going to feel terrible,” he said,
“We have created a rod to beat our own backs with. Reaching the semi-finals is the minimum target, but we want more than that ideally. Our goal is still to be back in the final.”
It’s the second year in a row the DHL Stormers have lost at the Arms Park, having gone down by a near identical 30-24 scoreline in October 2022 when they were reigning champions.
“That was a seminal moment.” revealed Dobson.
“We had been unbeaten for something like 15 games and we lost. We saw Cardiff celebrating the way they did and we thought ‘Hang on, what’s this about?’.
“We realised it was because they had beaten the champions and we started to realise we were actually under pressure – teams wanted to raise themselves and beat us.
“It’s nice for us in a funny way, but it does make it a bit more stressful. We are a scalp now.”
It remains to be seen whether this season’s defeat at the Arms Park will prove an equally seminal moment as the FHL Stormers head home looking to get back on track.
Comments on RugbyPass
GOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
1 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
150 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
1 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
150 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
150 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
150 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
150 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
150 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
150 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
150 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
150 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
150 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
150 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
150 Go to commentsHo hum.
150 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
150 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to comments