On Saturday, a much-improved Sharks outfit outmuscled a wasteful Stormers side 30–19 in Cape Town – just the Durban side’s third win of the campaign. It was the Stormers’ first defeat of the URC season and saw them surrender top spot on the log to Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors. 

While it has added a touch of pressure, it is far from panic stations in the Stormers camp.

In several key areas, the Stormers were not as clinical as they have been for most of the competition, and it has been some time since they were really forced to dig deep in recent outings.

Wandisile Simelane. Photo: Stormers

Dobson conceded that his team fell below their usual standards, admitting the Sharks were simply better on the day – but insists it’s something they can quickly fix before making the trip to Durban.

“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. We spoke about it afterwards – both sides of the line-out, our entries and the discipline,” said Dobson.

“Once you start conceding penalties, and even a penalty try, you’re going to be under pressure. I don’t mind penalties at the breakdown, but foul-play penalties are frustrating – tackling players in the air and things like that.

“That’s exactly what hurt us.”

Damian Willemse. Photo: Stormers

Dobson added that there is a silver lining, with the Stormers getting an immediate opportunity to set the record straight against the same opponents. “There’s a bit of a silver lining to a dark cloud. It didn’t feel like we beat ourselves – the Sharks were very good,” he added.

“They were organised, played with real passion, and clearly had strong plans. But if we had sorted out the discipline, the score could easily have gone our way.

“If you look at the URC stats, we were number one in the line-out, maul and scrum before this round, and we didn’t see that picture on the day.

“We’ll be back next week.”

Saturday’s return derby at Kings Park in Durban kicks off at 17:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cvs