Plethora of mistakes, Glasgow defence led to Stormers defeat

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson said the effort was there, but a plethora of mistakes and ferocious defence from the Glasgow Warriors contributed to a poor performance his side, as they were dumped out of the United Rugby Championship (URC) knockouts on Friday night.

The Stormers were outplayed 36-18, despite enjoying just as many opportunities as the hosts, but an inability to finish, coupled with a poor defensive performance, meant that Glasgow put away their chances, while the visitors were left to rue what could have been.

After the match Dobson admitted that it was a tough one to take, as they had gone into the game fully believing that they could walk away with a win.

“It’s sitting pretty tough in the throat, emotionally. I couldn’t sit in the changeroom and complain about the efforts, though. After their last try, we were all over their 22m area but we just played very poorly,” said Dobson.

“They put us under a lot of pressure, physically they defended really well. We didn’t get any yardage in our carries. I don’t think effort or fight was absent, but a plethora of mistakes (from us), and massive credit to Glasgow for their defence, it was excellent.

“They are also really good with the ball in hand, as we know, and if we were going to kick as inaccurately as we did, they were going to punish us.”

Chasing game

The Stormers will also be kicking themselves for allowing Glasgow to pull away, every time they got themselves back into the game, handing back the initiative which led to them chasing the match throughout.

It was after tries to Seabelo Senatla in the middle of the first half and start of the second, with the Stormers trailing 14-6 and 19-13 on those occasions.

The wings first try brought the score back to 14-13, but straight from the kick-off a penalty went against them, Glasgow kicked to the corner and Henco Venter went over, to give the hosts a 19-13 lead at halftime.

The second straight after halftime made it a one-point game again, at 19-18, but from the kick-off Glasgow reclaimed the ball, went through the phases and Kyle Rowe finished things off, to push them ahead 26-18, and the hosts never looked back as they went on to comfortably win.

“We thought they would try and get around us, so we wanted to go up and out, but I think the way they played those short inside balls was very clever, and we were found wanting,” explained Dobson.

“Also, it doesn’t help if you kick like we kicked, long, distant contestables that are going towards the midfield side of their 15m. Against their backs, it’s very hard to defend.

“So it was poor, and we conceded a try just after we scored, the holding penalty on Suleiman and they scored from that with a maul, and then we went with an open-side contestable, which wasn’t the plan, after Seabelo’s try and they scored under the poles.”