Hard lessons for DHL Stormers
With a host of players currently sidelined and the depth of the squad being tested, the DHL Stormers took some hard lessons from their Investec Champions Cup clash with Harlequins in London.
The DHL Stormers went down in their Investec Champions Cup Round Two encounter with Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.
It was a tough outing for the DHL Stormers, who have been hit hard by injury this season and saw three players sent to the sin bin in the second half.
Director of Rugby John Dobson has identified the DHL Stormers’ defence as a key area of focus in the build-up to this week’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at DHL Stadium.
Dobson and captain Salmaan Moerat gave their thoughts after the match in London, before the DHL Stormers regroup for this coming Saturday’s showdown with the Emirates Lions in Cape Town in Round Eight of the Vodacom URC.
John Dobson
The margins of error against Harlequins
“We pride ourselves on our defence, we think we’ve got one of the best in world club rugby, but Harlequins undid us there. Two yellow cards last week, three this week… A very disappointing performance. We would’ve liked to have competed more and for the scoreline to be better, and I think we could’ve if a couple things had gone our way, but we’ve got to look at ourselves.”
How the Investec Champions Cup campaign is being affected by missing players
“I think if we came here full noise – Damian Willemse was available, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff, two of the world’s best props – it’s just a different team. That would’ve been a classic game. We got ourselves into a hole with a tough Vodacom URC start and an injury list like I’ve never seen in my career. But it’s like being invited to someone’s birthday party and complaining about the food – we’re so grateful to be here, and I desperately want us to be able to compete. It’s just poor timing. What we do know about this tournament, and we were reminded of it by Harlequins, is it’s a step up. We’ve got teams into the quarter-finals and then we got hammered. But we’re keen to get there.”
The performance of debutants and new players
“I thought the new guys who haven’t played much for the DHL Stormers were superb. Vernon Matongo, Louw Nel were really good. Jonathan Roche when he came on for his debut… Those guys took their opportunities really well. Connor Evans was good, Sazi Sandi showed plenty of improvement. It was a curious game, I don’t think any of those guys played particularly poorly but we got well beaten.”
Injury concerns
“Connor Evan looks like a reasonably important ankle injury, and Louw Nel pulled a hamstring, but that’s it.”
Salmaan Moerat
Key takeaways from the result
“For those first 30 minutes we really did well and were in the game, but lapses in concentration cost us while our one-on-one tackling let them back into the game. At the end of the day it’s going to be very hard chasing a game like that. And in the second half, lapses in concentration again. Then the momentum is with them. It was really tough. But those first 30 minutes is the potential this group has, and if we can pull it together for longer periods we’ll be good for it.”
