Stormers ‘stuck in the fight’, says Dobson after Ulster battle

The Stormers “stuck in the fight”, said coach John Dobson after his team moved to the top of the local conference in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with a sterling defensive effort against Ulster at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

They had to absorb an inordinate amount of second-half pressure as Ulster roared back after falling 14-0 behind in the first six minutes.

While the Stormers defended stoutly they also got the rub of the green late in the game when an Ulster try was overturned and the hosts were allowed to feed the ball into the ensuing scrum.

“We can’t say we deserved it, we were on the ropes. But we stuck in the fight and we will learn a lot from this,” Dobson said.

Dobson's side played almost the entire second half in their own territory as Ulster unleashed a more direct ball-carrying approach and an on-point kicking game. The hosts lost the aerial battle but they dug deep elsewhere.

“It was courageous. There were elements of our game that are important for our growth that came out, such as the scrum plan.

“We started with ‘Kitsie’ [Steven Kitshoff] and Frans [Malherbe] and the replacements probably bailed us out.

“But that was the plan. We had Frans for 40 minutes and Kitsie for an hour. Then we had two almost international-level props in Brok [Harris] and Neethling [Fouché] coming on.

“It was the plan to get some reward there, but not necessarily win the game that way. Some of our maul defence was superb.”

While his team is top of the conference, Dobson is aware they need to improve if they want to be competitive at the business end of the competition. Ulster, for one, with the full restoration of their internationals at the end of the Six Nations will be an even more daunting proposition, especially at their Kingsholm base.

“We were under the pump with that kicking game,” acknowledged Dobson. “Our discipline also went.

“I don’t know whether those two issues are related. We gave away four penalties against Cardiff, seven or eight against Zebre and [Saturday] we were in the mid-teens. I think it was because we were under pressure so much.

“I don’t think we played poorly. We were up against a really good team who effected a really good plan and they put us under a lot of pressure. But we withstood that pressure.”

The Stormers next face Ospreys who they are favoured to beat. They then host the Bulls in a crunch clash that may decide the conference.

“If you think we are going to play the Bulls in two weeks, our maul defence, the scrum, the improvements we can make in terms of the kicking game and discipline, I think we are well poised for that game. We know that we can attack with panache.”

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