John Dobson is searching for positives after the DHL Stormers’ 15-game unbeaten run in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship ended in Cardiff on Saturday. URC
The Stormers dominated possession at Cardiff Arms Park, and outscored the home side by four tries to two, but handling errors at key moments let them down as a masterclass kicking performance from Cardiff flyhalf Rhys Priestland consigned the defending champions to a surpriseIt concluded the Stormers’ impressive run without a loss, and speaking post match from Wales, Dobson told media: “I can’t fault our effort but the Welsh teams played very cleverly, especially Cardiff this evening, the way...
“We mauled fantastic but scrumwise, these Welsh guys did much better than we expected, and their kicking game really put us under pressure. The visitors had to finish the first half a man down after No 8 Hacjivah Dayimani was yellow carded for an unavoidable head-on-head collision with hooker Kristian Dacey, but, a diplomatic Dobson played down the dismissal as a contributing factor.
Defeat on Saturday for the Capetonians completed a nine-point haul from a three-match tour to Italy and Wales, that included a bonus-point win over Zebre and 16-16 draw with Ospreys.Dobson added: “If we emerged from this tour with nine points from three games, it’s not the end of the world… having not played particularly well.