Stormers must slam gate shut against Cardiff, says Dobson

The Stormers must slam the gate shut out wide if they want to emerge on the winning side against a street-wise Cardiff outfit in a United Rugby Championship quarterfinal clash in Cape Town on Saturday, says coach John Dobson.

A bruising battle is on the cards after a fearless Cardiff side shocked the Stormers with an upset 22-16 win two weeks ago in Wales to clinch a playoff berth for the first time.

Spurred on by their home win, an upbeat Cardiff outfit have set their sights on snatching a smash-and-grab win at the Cape Town Stadium (kickoff 3.30pm).

The Stormers leaked four tries in the loss to Cardiff, and Dobson has highlighted areas where his team have to up their game.

“Losing in Wales didn’t sit nicely with us,” he said. “The team is completely aligned on what we have to fix on Saturday.”

Asked about the Stormers being exposed out wide, Dobson said: “Look, I think we’d all agree, unfortunately, it’s not just down to the wide defenders; we call it the gate, the wide guys.

“If you look at what it takes to win championships, it’s defence, set-piece and the kicking game. Those are the areas we are acutely aware of.
— John Dobson, Stormers coach

“I think we lacked line speed and tackle dominance closer to the breakdown. And that makes it a bit harder. The other teams have more momentum.

“We’ve got some plans, which we actually talked about in the pre-season, around how to defend there. And we probably did our standard slip a little.

“Cardiff’s ball speed was incredibly quick, and once they get on top of you with those short passes, you’re in trouble. It’s definitely a flashpoint for us and something we’re acutely aware of.”

Dobson said it will also be vital to take full advantage of every scoring opportunity that comes their way in a sudden-death showdown at the Cape Town Stadium.

“We get the second-most, 22m entries, in the competition, but our points per entry isn’t high enough. That’s an obvious area we absolutely have to improve.

“Set piece-wise we’re top, top, top.

John Dobson during the DHL Stormers and DHL Western Province joint training session at High Performance Centre on May 16, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images) — Stormers coach John Dobson (Ashley Vlotman)

“Defensively, I think we’ve conceded the least amount of tries in the competition. But our challenge is around 22m conversions.

“We have to ensure consistency around our set piece, that we get the scrum penalties and win the kick-metres battle, so I think our contestables will go better. We lost the kick metres badly in Cardiff.

“If you look at what it takes to win championships, it’s defence, set piece and the kicking game. Those are the areas we are acutely aware of.

“We’d also like to put opposition lineouts under a bit more pressure than we did in the last couple of weeks.”

Stormers prop Neethling Fouche has played down speculation that playing at home on grass would give them an advantage after playing Ulster and Cardiff on 4G surfaces overseas.

“We are prepping for a team that beat us two weeks ago, so we have to be better,” Fouche said. “They were better than us, and they picked us off on defence.

“There’s no real chat in the group or from the coaches about, ‘We’re playing on grass now; we’re not playing on 4G’. That can make you rest on your laurels. It’s about having plans and executing them.”

“They got the better of us [at the breakdown]. As players, you have certain roles going into a breakdown, and you have to execute those roles.

“They were quite street-smart around when to go and when not to go, so we’ll have to be ready for that this weekend and know there’s going to be a breakdown battle.”

“Cardiff are a good rugby team, and they’re in the top six for a reason. It’s not like the wheels come off when they run onto grass.”