Stormers struggled with the wind in Glasgow quarterfinal loss

The Stormers were beaten by the wind in their disappointing 27-10 defeat against Glasgow Warriors in their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal at the Scotstoun Stadium in Scotland on Saturday night.

In wet and windy conditions, the Stormers struggled massively while playing into the wind in the first half, with flyhalf Manie Libbok missing two penalties as they went into the halftime break 6-0 down.

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But it was in the second half when they were playing with the wind at their backs that they were unable to utilise it effectively, while Libbok missed two more shots at goal, as Glasgow took advantage with two late tries to run away with the game.

“I think if we had landed our penalties into the wind and gone in 6-all it would have been great. But I still thought at 6-0 (down) at halftime we were still well in the game,” admitted Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson.

“But I thought Glasgow were really good into the wind. Better than we were in the same stage of the game. It felt like when we were with the wind we didn’t get enough distance, and they returned the kicks very well.

Poor on attack

“We were also quite poor on attack. With our one-off runners, and we just seemed to lack another receiver outside of Manie and the forwards didn’t carry as well as they could have.

“So we didn’t attack very well with the wind. We got through phases but we didn’t ever look like we were going to penetrate. Which is credit to Glasgow’s defence as well.”

With Libbok clearly off his kicking game in the match some may have wondered why utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu wasn’t considered as a different kicking option, with him subbed off early in the second half.

“Sacha was cramping before we scored Ben Loader’s try, so it wasn’t really a consideration because we couldn’t keep him on. I think we would have gone that route if he had stayed on,” said Dobson.

The Stormers also felt very hard done by a penalty call that went against them late in the game which led to Glasgow pulling away on the scoreboard going into the final few minutes.

“I don’t want to sound like a sore loser. But Frans Malherbe was standing next to me on the sideline and he said he had never seen a penalty like that, and it was the one that led to the try and got them away at the end. So it was a big call,” said Dobson.