Dobson: How Ruhan Nel's absence affects Stormers' defensive game
REACTION: Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson explained how regular captain Ruhan Nel’s defensive capabilities were missed in their last two matches against Bristol Bears and the Scarlets.
Nel was a late withdrawal for the Stormers ahead of their Round One Champions Cup match against Bristol Bears with a calf injury and subsequently missed their 52-40 United Rugby Championship win over the Scarlets this past Saturday.
In both games, the Stormers were found wanting in the wider channels and conceded soft tries in the process.
*Also read: Stormers survive huge scare as Scarlets threaten historic upset
Despite Nel’s team captaincy, the Stormers clearly missed his defensive leadership in these last two matches.
Dobson explained how big Nel’s defensive work is for the Stormers and the different challenges overseas teams bring in terms of attack compared to South African franchises.
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“He’s [Nel] a defensive champion; I think that’s where we’ve got a challenge, and it’s not the first time it happened. It happened in both the last games against Connacht.
“In local derbies, the South African attack we can handle quite comfortably and in some of those Northern Hemisphere [games’] conditions.
“What teams like Connacht and Cardiff have is sophisticated stack attacks. What a team like Bristol Bears did to us last week is to take us to the blindside.
“If we’re not perfectly numbered and don’t have a plus one [defender] there, they bring us to the open, and that takes away our line speed, and if we’re not numbered up in that position, they take us on, on the side.
“We have to evolve to play against more sophisticated attacks, and that’s where Ruhan has been brilliant.
“Any South African team, and I’m including ourselves in that – for instance, Stormers v Sharks have a different defensive pressure compared to playing against Connacht or Leinster, for instance.
“It just is, and we have to be better at that, and quickly.”
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Not an ideal situation for John Dobson’s team 🚨🤕🩼
Link to the full injury update: https://t.co/EFm1ERKWbV
🌐#Rugby365 #STOvSCA #URC
— Rugby365 (@rugby365com) October 24, 2026
Stand-in captain Paul de Villiers elaborated on the team’s defensive fragilities and shared his thoughts after Scarlets scored back-to-back tries after half-time, which let the visitors back into the game after the hosts had a comfortable 33-14 lead at the break.
“We had this message that we don’t want to get loose after half-time, so it was a bit frustrating,” De Villiers said.
“We won’t pinpoint [the tries conceded] to any specific individual; it was a team thing.
“In saying that it was frustrating, we knew the only way to change it is to reset and go again and start over.”
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