Dobson questions drop-goal decision in draw with Ospreys
REACTION: Stormers head coach John Dobson believes his team produced a satisfactory performance in filthy conditions against Ospreys in Swansea on Friday.
Dobson’s side recorded a 16-16 draw against their Welsh opponents, which means they are still unbeaten in the United Rugby Championship season.
The Capetonians were leading 16-9 with eight minutes left on the clock before a try by Ospreys’ replacement hooker Scott Baldwin from a strong rolling maul in the 76th minute and the successful conversion by Myler levelled the scores with under four minutes to play.
“Everyone wants to beat us,” Dobson told reporters after the match.
“We haven’t played in conditions like that in the tournament. We know we had a bit of a lucky run back in South Africa between February and March.
“We will be better for this and I think we could have won it with better game management towards the end.
“You could see the Ospreys were the more cheerful team at the end, which shows how much it meant to them.”
On his team’s overall performance, Dobson added: “I thought tonight was one of our better performances in the conditions.
“I thought we scored one of our classic tries today and it is important that we score more of those.
“I think we are satisfied. I think we are playing with energy and we are just letting ourselves down with one or two errors.”
Flyhalf Manie Libbok was again one of the stars of the show for the Stormers with his calming presence and his incredible goal-kicking in difficult conditions.
He had a chance to win the game in the closing stages with a drop goal from outside the Ospreys’ 22, but the ball went wide of the polls.
It could have been a different story if the Stormers took the ball through a few more phases to win a penalty or move closer to the posts to make the drop goal easier for Libbok.
“He [Libbok] is great,” said the Stormers coach
“He is only 25 and he has been around a bit in terms of the provinces.
“I thought at the end there he almost got away, which would have won it for us.
“Should we have gone for the drop? I don’t know, but he is special.”
The story continues below…
#ICYMI: Veteran flyhalf Stephen Myler kicked a late conversion to snatch a draw for hosts Ospreys against the defending-champion Stormers in filthy conditions in Swansea. 👇#URC #Ospreys #Stormers #OSPvSTO https://t.co/ellr8OyMM3
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) October 15, 2022
Off to Cardiff
The Stormers will finish their three-match tour against Cardiff next weekend and Dobson knows how important that game will be after his team dropped a couple of points in Swansea.
“That game has become more important for us now.
“We got to be quite disciplined about sticking to the processes.
“It’s not going to be a bad team that we are putting out against Cardiff next week.
“Frans Malherbe will come in and Kitsie [Steven Kitshoff] and Joseph [Dweba] will still be around, so we are not going to fly guys back out.
“We will stick to our processes. We got 17 points from four games, so there is no reason for us to panic.
“A draw in these conditions against a good Ospreys side is no reason for us to throw out our plans.”
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