The Stormers provided solid proof they can front up against the best teams in the world, despite a 20-11 loss against Leinster in the United Rugby Championship semifinals, says coach John Dobson.
He felt his team had been gaining the ascendency over the Irish side until Ruan Ackermann was sent off for a tucked-shoulder clean-out against the Irish powerhouses at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Dobson said they had no problem with the call against Ackermann but that the yellow card replacement lock Salmaan Moerat received at a breakdown had baffled him.
People always say you’ve never played a Leinster first team. Now we have, and I think they probably have a bit of respect for us, and I mean that genuinely
— John Dobson, Stormers coach
“People always say you’ve never played a Leinster first team,” Dobson said. “Now we have, and I think they probably have a bit of respect for us, and I mean that genuinely.
“Deep down, we know that with a bit of work, a few things going right and a couple of players fit, we can front up to the best in the world.
“We probably should apologise for that first send-off; that is what we have to get rid of in rugby. A tucked shoulder to the head, and then you won’t have players jackalling at the breakdown. My only thing to Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was to say sorry about that.
“I had no issue with that call. Up until then, we could see some cracks starting to appear physically in Leinster and that ill-discipline was costly.
“A big moment was when we got into their 22, which we didn’t do often. If we converted there, we were in a reasonably good position. We could see they looked a little bit tired. That second yellow card I didn’t quite understand.”
Dobson said he told his players about the importance of keeping 15 players on the field at halftime. However, seven minutes into the second half, winger Leolin Zas was sin-binned for a deliberate knockdown.
“Up until minute 68, we dared to dream,” Dobson said. “We defended well. Yes, we had personnel issues, and I don’t want to make it sound like an excuse.
“The Stormers weren’t going to come here and out-attack Leinster. We wanted to make it a dogfight, give them set-piece pressure and defend well. I think that was working.
“The thing with Leinster is that if you give them more than 10 line-outs in your half, they get their rhythm from that, and it leads to tries. A couple of those line-outs came from our poor discipline.”
We didn’t win against Leinster, but if you consider how close we came to beating them on their home ground ... then you can see we are coming close
— Dobson
Dobson said the Stormers were making big strides in improving their squad depth.
“We have made so many strides when it comes to building our squad, something we know we have to do if we want to compete both in the URC and in Europe [the Investec Champions Cup],” he said.
“The difference in the past between Leinster and a team like us is that they have had the depth to field a Leinster A team, meaning a second-string team, against a team like the Ospreys in the URC and expect to win. And then they can play La Rochelle or another top team in the Champions Cup with a full-strength team.
“We didn’t win against Leinster, but if you consider how close we came to beating them on their home ground — with Frans Malherbe not there, with Oli Kebble not there, with Deon Fourie not there, with Seabelo Senatla not there, without JD [Schickerling] and Ruben van Heerden, and without Cobus Reinach and Sacha — then you can see we are coming close.
Leinster will play the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship final on June 19 at Croke Park in Dublin.
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