John Dobson pulled no punches after his side’s 33-24 home defeat to Connacht on Saturday.
The Stormers’ director of rugby refused to offer excuses following a result that severely dented their URC top-two ambitions.
Dobson pointed directly at individual errors and a loose attacking approach as the primary reasons for the loss. With log leaders, the Glasgow Warriors, arriving in Cape Town next weekend, the pressure on his squad has never been greater this season.
“WE SHOVELLED RUBBISH OUT THERE”
Dobson was brutally direct in his assessment of the performance. He did not spare his players or himself in the post-match debrief.
“We shovelled rubbish out there quite a bit too often,” he said. “We were loose throughout. There were a couple of patches in the first half where we shuffled it around too much.”
The Stormers had the template to win, Dobson argued, but kept deviating from it at critical moments.
“We said at halftime, let’s be more direct and limit the passing on attack,” a visibly upset Dobson said. “But we kept shovelling the ball back repeatedly and conceded a penalty for sealing off. It felt at times we needed to invent to beat them, when in reality the template was there.”
INDIVIDUAL ERRORS PROVED THE DIFFERENCE
Dobson identified specific moments that swung the contest Connacht’s way. A forward pass from Damian Willemse at a crucial restart, a dropped ball and a scrum the Stormers could not convert all featured prominently in his post-game analysis.
“If we hadn’t made some of those mistakes, we would not have lost the game,” he said. “The bounce of a kick, a dropped restart, and an intercept; all of our mistakes. I don’t think we can use the tough week and the loss of Chippie [Solomon, team manager] as an excuse.”
Captain Ruhan Nel echoed that view. “It was a heavy week, but we did more than enough in that game to pick up the win. The loss is 100% on us.”
GLASGOW WARRIORS LOOMS LARGE WITH NO SILVER LINING IN SIGHT
The defeat leaves the Stormers needing to win all three remaining regular-season games to secure their desired finish. Glasgow, Ulster and Cardiff await, the latter two on artificial surfaces away from home.
“Glasgow will be massive,” Dobson said. “To get nothing out of today was very disappointing. Now we have to win all three of our last games to get where we want to be. That is easier said than done.”
When a reporter suggested the emotional weight of the week might soften the blow of the defeat, Dobson was having none of it.
“I can’t see a silver lining anywhere at the moment,” he said. “Glasgow is coming, Chippie’s funeral on Tuesday – I can’t see a silver lining at the moment. Maybe a bit later, after a sedative.”
