Stormers coach laments URC quarterfinal performance, looks to season's silver linings

By SABC Sport
2nd June 2025

Stormers boss John Dobson admitted his charges were poor in their United Rugby Championship loss on Friday, but looked at the positives for the season.

The Cape Town franchise travelled to Scotland to face defending URC champions Glasgow Warriors last week. Soft errors and a dysfunctional attack resulted in a 36-18 loss, bringing their URC campaign to an end.

It was a bitter pill to swallow after a superlative run of form for the Stormers. They collected the maximum 20 points from their last four home games to surge up the URC table to fifth. But a trip north to face the talented Warriors proved too much.

Speaking to the press afterwards, Dobson reflected on the match.

"We'd been going 90% lineouts for the last four games, then suddenly dropped in the 70s," he said.

"We dropped down to giving away 17 line breaks, dropped down to 65% tackle completion, which is a credit to Glasgow in terms of how they attacked.

"But we kept our worst performance probably in a couple of years for a knockout game, which is really disappointing.

However, it's not all doom and gloom for the Stormers. A run of six wins from their last seven matches, the return of superstar Seabelo Senatla and the emergence of fresh talent such as former SA U20 captain Paul de Villiers have given Dobson plenty of optimism for the future.

"Our scrum and Seabelo were the two silver linings to a very dark cloud, and some of the youngsters coming through," he added.

"Youngsters like Paul will be better for the experience. In terms of broadening our depth, we've had a good season.

"What worried me, I felt like we didn't win the gainline. We can fix the lineout or the kicking plan, it just worried me a little bit that we didn't dominate the collisions as much as I'd like to have. But to fade off like we did tonight is disappointing.

"I think we weren't far off getting ourselves into fourth [on the log], despite everything that happened over the season. The growth in terms of the squad, and our scrum culture is superb. That gives me a lot of reason for optimism."