‘Reason for optimism’: Dobson says Stormers are relieved to be home

The Stormers will be very happy to return to home comforts this week after a disappointing opening Champions Cup defeat to ASM Clermont Auvergne in France over the weekend.

The Cape Town franchise will be back at their home ground, after two weeks away, when they host London Irish in their second match of Europe’s premier competition on Saturday night.

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The Stormers are known for their thrilling brand of ball in hand rugby, but against Clermont they were smothered, with their only try of the game coming from their rolling maul, while they were completely shut out in the second half of the game.

They will hope that a return to familiar surroundings will be the boost they need to get their campaign up and running against the English Premiership visitors.

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“Normally we’re known as a team that can really make reads and fly off the line to cut off runners. We didn’t see a Ruhan Nel, Paul de Wet or Herschel Jantjies type read on defence. Clermont took those yards and we were nervy with their intelligent kicking game,” explained Stormers coach John Dobson.

“We just couldn’t get our hands on the ball to play the rugby we want, nor did we kick the way that we usually do. Clermont turned up a little bit of the heat, and we fell right into it. That was really disappointing.”

Champion mentality

While the games against French opposition in France are said to be the toughest in the competition, the Stormers showed their champion mentality in being very disappointed with not having won the match, after they took an 11-point lead into the half-time break.

“This is the epicentre of French rugby with an amazing record and history and the truth is we feel extremely disappointed that we didn’t win,” said Dobson.

“That shows we are at the top table where we want to be. We now know a bit better what it will take to win European games and theoretically our next three games shouldn’t be as hard as we’ve just been through, so that’s reason for optimism.”