John Dobson said the DHL Stormers’ defeat at Cardiff on Friday was “by far our worst performance on tour”, as they return home winless after four matches in Europe.
A late try from Rhys Litterick earned Cardiff a thrilling 31-24 victory over the Stormers at Arms Park in the Vodacom URC on Friday.
The Welsh outfit were second best in terms of possession and territory but were more clinical as the error-prone visitors presented their hosts with opportunities to punish them.
The Stormers have dropped to 10th on the URC log, and will regroup to face Zebre Parma in Stellenbosch next Saturday.
RECAP: Error-prone Stormers denied in Cardiff
In a post-match teleconference from Wales, head coach Dobson said: “As a collective, we haven’t done ourselves any favours on tour. I don’t think the competition thinks more of us. I don’t think some of the players or staff feel good about themselves.
“It has been a poor tour. We all need to have a look at ourselves on what we could have done better.
“It’s a very disappointing way to finish the tour. It’s a disappointing tour.”
World Cup-winning Springboks Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok, Frans Malherbe and Deon Fourie will headline a host of returning players available for selection next week as Dobson looks to address issues from Friday night’s defeat.
MORE: Willie’s message for Bulls fans and critics
“Cardiff played with real fight and zip. They are busy with a rebuild and we saw some of ourselves in them, but we were extremely poor,” he added.
“We were absolutely dominant with a certain style of play and we were 14-0 up. I might be one out, but to get seven scrum put-ins in the second half just for us to lose the ball in contact is not good enough at URC level.
“But we [also] seem to just want to make Hail Marys all the time and it is a really poor performance by us in that respect.
“I didn’t expect us to play like that. It was by far our worst performance on tour, which is disappointing.
“We will have Manie and Damian back this week. Flyhalf is an area we struggled with and that will give us a few more options.”
Photo: Paul Phelan/ProSports/Shutterstock