Dobson a frustrated man despite Stormers’ Champions Cup bonus point win

Stormers coach John Dobson was left frustrated by his side who were unable to sufficiently put away an understrength Sale Sharks in their Champions Cup match at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.

The Stormers managed to walk away with a full house of points after clinching a 31-24 win but made things hard for themselves by allowing the English Premiership side to keep fighting back whenever they pulled clear.

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Sale were also missing a number of regulars for the match and the Stormers created enough chances to seal a comfortable win, but after looking like they would pull away after taking leads of 21-7 in the first half and 31-17 in the second they allowed the visitors to hit back and stay in the match.

“It was a frustrating game. I thought it was a game that we would have liked to put away a lot earlier. But credit to Sale for the way they fought. They came with a plan around the contestables and I thought we got chucked into that a bit,” said Dobson after the match.

“They had a lot of players out so to come as close as they did was good for them. But we didn’t really get going.

“We have struggled with it (taking their chances) this season. We had three or four clear chances and another try would have put us a few scores clear and the game would have been over. So I never thought we were in danger of losing.

“We did have some positives, like the scrum and we scored some nice tries. But we got sucked into a dogfight which was frustrating.”

Frustrated captain

Stormers captain Deon Fourie was also frustrated with his side’s inability to take their opportunities and pull away, especially in the maul where they were nullified by Sale.

But he was happy that they kept their unbeaten record at home so far this season intact and that they have put themselves in a good position to qualify for the knockouts as they head to France for their final pool match.

“Taking our chances is something we have to work on. Especially our maul, I think it’s one of our strong points but it didn’t come off so credit to Sale they managed to stop us in that department,” explained Fourie.

“I think we need to keep our composure better and stick to our game plan. Luckily our flair came through a few times but we need to learn to consolidate as well.

“We just wanted to win and keep our winning record at home (this season) intact. Luckily we got the five points as well so onto Stade Francais in Paris.”