‘It wasn’t a great performance, but we showed heart to come back,’ says Stormers coach John Dobson

Stormers coach John Dobson before their United Rugby Championship semi-final match against Ulster at Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday

Stormers coach John Dobson before their United Rugby Championship semi-final match against Ulster at Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday. Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

Published Jun 11, 2022

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Cape Town — Playing the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship final at Cape Town Stadium is going to be ‘simply magical’.

That’s the view of Stormers coach John Dobson, and there aren’t any reasons needed as to why that is.

For one, nobody can say that they could have predicated an SA team making the final at the start of the competition, never mind an all-South African dual.

Secondly, it’s the Bulls, and what can be better than playing your age-old rivals in a tournament where nobody even gave you half a chance.

Also, it’s a home final and the first time since 2010 that the Cape side will play in the finale of an intercontinental competition. That should be enough said.

The Stormers booked their home final with a late and dramatic 17-15 victory over Ulster on Saturday.

They overcame big pressure from Ulster in their semi-final thriller in the second half, and after an extremely tense — and long — period in the Irish side’s 22, they finally got over the try line for the first time in the second half right at the death.

That took the score to 15-15, and while Manie Libbok didn’t have his best game, he came through when it mattered by slotting the conversion to Warrick Gelant’s try to avoid an extra-time situation, taking the final score 17-15.

Speaking after the game, Dobson said that while there are some things he wasn’t too happy with, the character his team showed was special.

ALSO READ: All hail Manie Libbok! Stormers never gave up, and were rewarded in the end

“It was a really frustrating performance, our discipline was poor and we didn’t stick to our plan. It wasn’t a great performance, but the heart we showed to come back in those last 15 or so minutes was special,” he said.“

“There is so much for us to fix from today. I don’t have to worry about things guys pitching up, they do that every single week. We won’t change too much, but there are some big learnings from this game, and that’s what we will focus on.

“There were elements around our kicking game that we didn’t get right. I was pleased with our lineout. We are also going to have to work on our lineout.”

The referee made sure that there was no shortage of controversial moments and — which is to be expected given how protected officials are — the Stormers boss didn’t want to focus on those moments too much.

“I don’t know if this goes back to last year’s stuff with the British & Irish Lions, but I feel we should have the same access to the referee. But I don’t want to say much about that.”

On facing the Bulls, who beat Leinster 27-26 in the first semi, Dobson said: “It’s surreal, I can’t believe it. The Bulls were outstanding last night and we would have felt that we didn’t get the reward for all the hard work we’ve done if we didn’t make this final.”

@WynonaLouw

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