Dobson a happy man as Stormers move into second spot on URC table

The Stormers are flying high in the United Rugby Championship as their comfortable 32-7 bonus point win over the Glasgow Warriors saw them leap from fifth to second place on the log, with just two games left to play in the pool stage.

It is an absolutely stacked table with just four points separating the Stormers in second from the Bulls in eighth place, but they have positioned themselves perfectly at the head of the chasing pack for the run in.

Leinster still top the log despite their loss to the Sharks and even if they lose to the Stormers this coming weekend, they will still hold onto first place and should end the pool stage on top.

“Our goal at the start of the season was to make the play-offs and from where we were over a year ago, this is a great achievement,” said Stormers coach John Dobson.

“It does take a bit of pressure off the next match. But we still need to win at least one of our last two to make sure that we qualify for the (European Rugby) Champions Cup, so that is what we need to do.”

Bonus point

In the match against Glasgow it was a slow start from the Stormers that saw the visitors take an early 7-0 lead, before the hosts fought back to lead 13-7 at halftime.

The second half was then all the Stormers as they ran in three tries, including after the full time hooter to get the vital bonus point that has put them ahead of Munster, the Sharks and Ulster who are all just a point behind them.

“Credit to Kitsy (Steven Kitshoff), he made some very good decisions around our penalties and around our line out moves. We have been spoiled with our starts in recent games. So we showed some good character this time,” said Dobson.

“Glasgow came into the game comfortably third on the log, a really good team with a lot of internationals, so it was a very pleasing result.”

Scarra Ntubeni

The one blow to the Stormers from the match was at hooker where Scarra Ntubeni limped off with what looked like a serious injury and with them in a crisis in that position they may need flank Deon Fourie to slip back into his first position.

“Hooker is a flashpoint for us. Scarra looks like he’s injured his Achilles, so we will have to wait and see once he goes for scans. Andre-Hugo (Venter) and Chad (Solomons) are still reasonably long term (regarding their injuries),” explained Dobson.

“Deon is going to be at home throwing at a lamp pole in his garden,” Dobson added with a laugh. “Deon is obviously who we are going to have to go with.”