Ahead of their Super Rugby meeting with the Blues at the weekend, Stormers coach John Dobson was wary of the ‘unpredictable’ Blues.
During the team announcement press conference last week, he said the fact that the New Zealand outfit is physical yet off the cuff as well makes them an unusual challenge, saying that while teams like the Hurricanes and the Jaguares’ shapes are perhaps easier to read, the Blues’ isn’t. And in their shocking 33-14 defeat to the Blues at Newlands at the weekend, the Blues showed just how unpredictable they can be.
The varied approach of their runners caused the Stormers, who missed 35 tackles, all sorts of problems. At the end of the first quarter the Blues led 20-0, a figure that should say enough about the hosts’ efforts, or lack thereof, early in the game.
“I thought the Blues were superb. They came at us early and got us physically. We didn’t stay in the fight. They deserved the win and the margin of win. I’m extremely disappointed with that performance. I’m not sure what the Blues said, but in my mind they really hit their straps,” Dobson said about the opposition, who secured their first win at Newlands since 2009.
While the Stormers also struggled at the scrum and the line-out, one of the biggest disappointments was the team’s attitude, something skipper Steven Kitshoff said was also a problem during the warm-up.
“It was not a good warm-up. It felt a bit lethargic. We made a couple of mistakes. The guys weren’t really in the zone. It’s something we will have to look at. The first 20 minutes of a Super Rugby game is the most important.
“The Blues came out more hungry than us and just had us on the back foot. They had an unreal start to the game. We had no answers in the first 20 minutes. We found our feet towards the end of the first half, showed some good moments, scored two tries but we just could not capitalise.”