Dobson thrilled with Stormers success ahead of URC final

Stormers coach John Dobson is thrilled with how his side has brought rugby back to the people over the past couple of years, with the United Rugby Championship (URC) defending champs preparing to host their second consecutive final against Munster at the Cape Town Stadium next weekend.

Just before and after Covid, with South African teams participation in Super Rugby coming to an end and moving onto a new competition, teams were struggling with flagging stadium numbers and viewership.

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But since the URC got under way and with the varying success of the SA franchises it has reinvigorated fans to turn up in their numbers at the stadiums again, while the URC has also enjoyed record broadcast numbers.

Means everything

“It means everything (seeing the fans turn out). I am acutely aware that sport works in cycles and that the momentum could change,” said Dobson.

“There were some results (that went their way), like the Leinster v Munster result worked in our favour. That’s sort of on a shallower level.

“On a deeper level, to have got over 45000 people at the Cape Town Stadium, the biggest crowd in Stormers history (for the semi-final at that venue), is just remarkable.”

Dobson continued: “Not only have Western Province been going through things, but Super Rugby was falling off a cliff and has continued to in terms of attendances, broadcast viewership, suite sales and everything.

“So for us to have reinvigorated that culture and seeing what it means to the people and who the people are now, it’s not like it was 20 or 30 years ago.

“The Men in Black were talked about, and they reached the semi-finals in 1999, and to have got that back, it’s an incredible achievement by this group of players.”

Lots of work

Dobson however admitted that despite the stunning success of his side over the past two seasons, they still aren’t the finished product and have a lot of work to do as they move forward from here,

“In a funny way, we’ve not overachieved, but to host every single URC play-off game is a remarkable achievement. But we are probably ahead of the substance of where we are. We need a bit more depth and need a few more players,” explained Dobson.

“Our pathway system needs to be firing. We need to come out of administration and all that stuff. On the surface, we look fantastic, but there is a lot of work still to go into this project.”

The Stormers still have unfinished business this season and will be aiming to retain their title against Munster in front of a record crowd next weekend, before looking on to the future.