Cape Town - It was his worst birthday since his bicycle was stolen, and not even two losing bonus points could lift Stormers coach John Dobson’s mood after his team went down 26-24 to Munster at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
The loss means the defending URC champions are now in third place on the standings and need a favour from another team if they are to end second.
Dobson celebrated his birthday on Saturday as his Stormers and Western Province sides went down to Munster and the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup respectively, making it a double whammy of bad news on what should have been a special day for their coach.
“This is probably the worst birthday of my life other than when my bike got stolen,” Dobson joked about the two losses on Saturday.
“But today (Saturday) is a major disappointment, full stop. It’s hard to see a silver lining other than there being no injuries. I wanted it (their fate for second place) to be in our own hands.”
There’s one round-robin match left on Friday (6.30pm kickoff) against Benetton in Stellenbosch and a full house of points will be a non-negotiable for the Stormers.
Ulster, currently in second with 64 points, play Edinburgh and a victory will keep them in place for a possible home semi-final.
Although the quarter-finals still need to be decided, Dobson badly wanted the victory over Munster.
“We had to win, that’s the bottom line in terms of that possible home semi, which is so important, and getting a nicer quarter-final draw. That is what’s so disappointing.
“To rely on Edinburgh now, I don’t think that two points (out of Saturday's defeat) are gonna make a difference. You will be going down a rabbit hole (trying to work out permutations). We just have to do the best we can on Friday. We have a home quarter-final and we won the SA Shield.
“It’s just so disappointing coming so close to securing a possible home semi-final. Whoever we play in the quarters, it’s going to be a tough game. There will be some interesting teams.”
Dobson said it may be easier for the top two teams to play the seventh and eighth-placed sides in the knockouts, but things get more tricky when you have number three and four playing the sixth and fifthplaced outfits.
If the Stormers stay in third place, they can face several sides, including the Bulls, Sharks, Connacht, and even Munster again. The good thing is that the team cannot fall further than third place, while they can still move up to second after Friday’s URC action.
Ahead of the Benetton clash in Stellenbosch, Dobson says he wants to see his team improve in several areas.
Their maul defence was below standard against Munster and allowed for two early tries in the first half. The Stormers again struggled on defence at times although they performed better than in the Champions Cup quarter-final against Exeter Chiefs.
Dobson also lamented his team’s inability to take the game by the scruff of the neck when they dominated in the opening minutes of the second half and towards the final whistle.
“We started the second half well, but I was worried at halftime because I thought they (Munster) could get their breath back. They looked absolutely gone the last 10 minutes of the first half,” he said.
“And we were all over them in the first 10 minutes. The main message was tempo and intensity, and we got that right. I can’t explain, it but we let them back in the second half.
“I can’t fault the guys for their effort and fight. Scoring that try for the bonus point, is Stormers rugby. But there was just something missing.”
@LeightonK