Stormers coach John Dobson admits his side weren’t at their best in their 31-13 victory over Zebre on Saturday night.
Dobson said his log-leaders drifted from the template that had served them so well at the back end of last season and early in the current campaign.
“We had a very strong template towards the back end of last season, start of this season. We maybe varied a bit too much this week. I hate using the term ‘overplayed’ but in some areas we probably pushed it a little bit when we actually wanted to be really direct.
“Not our best performance – we were a bit flat. I don’t know if it’s because of the time we played or the pressure that Zebre exerted – still wasn’t our best.”
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Despite a disjointed showing at times, the Stormers’ set-piece foundation once again proved decisive.
“What’s pleasing is our lineouts and maul is going well, our scrum won a few penalties but I felt those came a little bit later than it did in the previous games. We didn’t have it quite as easy at scrum time, but if you’re without Tuks [Ntuthuko Mchunu], Neethling [Fouché], Sazi [Sandi] and Frans [Malherbe] … I thought Zach Porthen was exceptional.
“So the set piece was nice, where we are on the log is nice. I thought our defence was really good. We never let them get on top of us.”
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Dobson says the Stormers will need to find another gear when they head to Treviso next week to face Benetton, a side that has caused them problems in the past.
“We weren’t at our clinical best and we’ve got a huge battle ahead against Benetton. We haven’t won here nor have we played well here before, so we’ve got to lift ourselves for a real big battle in Treviso next week.”
The Cape side’s last two results in Treviso were a 20-17 loss in 2023 and a 22-18 loss in 2021.
Photo: Chris Fairweather/Gallo Images
