Dobson says no pressure on Stormers ahead of Toulon clash

Despite falling just short in a thrilling United Rugby Championship (URC) encounter against the Sharks over the weekend, Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson is hopeful the team will get back to winning ways soon as they turn their attention to their Champions Cup match against Toulon.

With arguably the premier franchise rugby competition in the world kicking off this coming weekend, the Stormers will be eager to get off to a strong start against the French giants in their clash in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) on Saturday.

But to do that they will have to turn around a poor start to the season that has seen them win just two of their opening six games to sit 13th on the URC table.

Bok players missing

Dobson explained that despite them missing a slew of star players due to injury against the Sharks, the fight and effort of his team was enough to indicate that they could start turning things around.

“Today (Saturday) gave me hope and I know we are sitting here after a defeat. I know Eben (Etzebeth) and Bongi (Mbonambi) didn’t play (for the Sharks), but we were without five Boks, (Steven) Kitshoff, (Frans) Malherbe, (Deon) Fourie, (Evan) Roos and (Damian) Willemse,” said Dobson.

“To come here like that and fight like we did gives me hope about the team. We saw a lot of our DNA out there. I’m confident that we can put together a proper run now. I don’t think many teams in the world can sit comfortably without five Springboks.

“It’s probably a good place for us to launch from now. The reality is just the sheer pressure of having to accumulate log points (in the URC).”

Toulon test

Toulon have been in decent form in the French Top 14 this season, winning seven out of 11 games, to sit fourth on the table and will head over to South Africa after a 22-13 away win over Perpignan.

They will thus be confident and have momentum on their side, so the Stormers will have to find a way to match that, and despite their struggles in the URC, Dobson believes they will be able to play with freedom.

“This (Sharks) result hasn’t changed anything for Toulon. We do have to make sure that in the URC we get into the top eight. But we are going to respect the European competitions,” said Dobson.

“The local URC derbies (at the end of December) are non-negotiable. But we are not going to bail on the Champions Cup now because we lost.

“The Toulon game is one we will go and enjoy and play. There isn’t any pressure. The big pressure is in the URC. We will go and attack the Champions Cup and enjoy it.”