[WATCH] It was a horror show: Dobbo slams Stormers’ ‘car crash’ defeat
Stormers coach John Dobson says “one of the worst performances of discipline” cost them on Saturday, ending a seven-game United Rugby Championship winning streak against the Bulls.
The Bulls romped to a 40-22 bonus-point victory at a packed Loftus Versfeld, which left the ninth-placed Stormers 10 points behind Jake White’s Herd – up to second – on the overall table before a two-week break in the competition.
With seven rounds of the URC left to play, Dobson’s manne will need to uit hal en wys, but the boss is still fuming at the efforts from his span.
He says: “That first half hour was probably one of our worst performances in terms of discipline. I thought 19-15 [at halftime] was generous to us.
“You can’t play against a team as good as the Bulls like that. I don’t know where it came from. It was remarkably poor.
“It was always just when we started clawing our way back into the game, we would just do something silly. We were uncharacteristically ill-disciplined. It was an almost lazy performance.
The unstoppable force @venter_hugo. #BULvSTO #iamastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/hyAI1DFSBr
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) March 2, 2024
“They have a strong lineout contesting team. Coming up here, we always knew we would be under some pressure. It wasn’t good enough by us at all against a good Bulls team.
“I’ve just never seen things go wrong like that. Kicking directly into touch, losing virtually every contestable, Manie [Libbok] sending kick-offs into touch or not 10 metres. It was a horror show… it was car crash after car crash.”
Great first half for the Vodacom Bulls ⚡️😮💨@Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/lCq9uOWxJh
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) March 2, 2024
The Stormers will next host Edinburgh in Cape Town on March 23, with Dobbo adding: “With the [Springbok] alignment camp and not having a league match this week, hopefully a nice trip for those that go and then two weeks to get ready for Edinburgh, we will be fine.”
devin.hermanus@inl.co.za