‘We didn’t deserve to win’: Dobson laments lack of discipline from Stormers

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson admitted that they had been their own worst enemies as they slipped to a disappointing 38-34 defeat against Ulster in their United Rugby Championship (URC) game in Belfast on Friday night.

It was an ill-disciplined performance that ultimately ended up costing the visitors, as a yellow card and a 44^th minute red card to prop and captain for the match Neethling Fouche gave the hosts enough of a leg up to secure a tight win.

The Stormers had flown into a 17-0 lead after just eight minutes, before Ulster hit back with two tries of their own to make it 17-12 after 28 minutes.

A 38^th minute yellow card to flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for a cynical challenge then proved costly as Ulster utilised the extra man to level the scores at the break.

Damian Willemse was arguably lucky to have just a penalty go against him at the start of the second half that led to Ulster scoring and taking the lead, which they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

Marching orders

Fouche received his marching orders straight after the restart for an unlucky tackle as the player went in very low, and though the prop went in low himself and tried to get under him, his shoulder collided with the head leading to the red.

That allowed Ulster to pull away into a 38-27 lead heading into the final 10 minutes, followed by the hosts having a yellow card go against them, which allowed the Stormers to take advantage and score through Evan Roos three minutes later to make it a four-point game, but that was as good as it got.

“It was disappointing in the aspect that we thought we probably for large parts of the game were our own worst enemy,” Dobson said after the match. 

“The start we had, we wanted to put pressure on them, keep the crowd quiet, take them out of the game. And it was deadly quiet for 17 minutes. I don’t know if we got complacent, but we certainly got ill-disciplined and didn’t work as hard in defence as we should have done.

“To give away five entries to the 22, one for a drop ball when Damian scooted it off his foot, and the other four were soft penalties.

“Then, of course, Sacha’s late tackle or trip or whatever it was, and that was really expensive for us. The second half, you know, we get a red card. It was really ill-disciplined, unfortunately.”

Good start

Dobson admitted he was happy with the way his team started the match, but again lamented their discipline after taking a strong early lead, which allowed the hosts to fight their way back.

“I thought we were imperious at the start. It’s a game we should have won in terms of the quality of our team and plans. But rugby must involve, and does involve, discipline. So maybe we don’t deserve to win it if we’re that ill-disciplined,” said Dobson.

“Generally, I thought in the swirling conditions, we handled most of the game. The scrum, the kicking game, we had a reasonable territory picture.

“This team fights, but we shouldn’t have been in a position where we had to fight. If you’re 17-0 up and it could have been 24-0 if we took that pass inside. But double penalties, same as last week, were very expensive. I think when we had the ball in hand, we looked dominant, but just too ill-disciplined.”