A delighted John Dobson has hailed the magnitude of the Stormers’ Champions Cup victory against defending champions La Rochelle.
Flyhalf Manie Libbok held his nerve to slot a touchline conversion that snatched a 21-20 victory against the defending champions in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.
While the Stormers are still searching for their fluency on attack, the match was very much a dogfight, with both teams piling on the pressure at the breakdown and disrupting each other’s attacking patterns.
An incredibly physical La Rochelle team shook the Stormers with some big hits and caused havoc at the breakdown through man of the match Levani Botia, but the Stormers still found a way to come back from 11 points down to win.
Speaking after the match, Dobson rued wasted opportunities but lauded his charges for the achievement of scalping Europe’s defending club champions.
“I think the feeling up until the last couple of minutes was a little bit disappointed,” said Dobson. “But from a bigger picture view, we were playing against an international-class team. I made a joke with the team now, Mike Tyson used to say that everyone has a plan before they get punched in the face.
“That was a tough team to play against, a really, really good team, especially at the breakdown. We got sucked into the arm wrestle and we didn’t implement, to my mind, our own plan, which was around trying to open things up and using our X-factor. So I was frustrated with that.
“I am very proud of the fight, that we were still in that game. There was some emotion that we could do better, but we have beaten one of the best. If there is a better club team in the world right now, you can show it to me. They came here fully loaded, absolutely desperate to win.
“It was a very special win. As much as we won it in the last second, I do think we deserved to win that game. We had so many opportunities we didn’t take, but we did well to win.”Brannas [Deon Fourie] said before the game that this is probably the best club side in the world. It’s them or Leinster, but La Rochelle have won two titles in a row.
“For us to beat them, I think we made it hard for ourselves today because we got five 22-metre entries in the first half with no return. I think it’s a statement that we have some depth here and are heading in the right direction. I think we are in a good space now.”
The result opened the Stormers’ account in this season’s Champions Cup, after their second-string side cruelly had a losing bonus point taken from them in their first-round loss in Leicester.
“The Leicester performance was exceptional. We got the message back from the referees to apologise for that final scrum,” said Dobson, with a wry smile.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
