Undisciplined Stormers: 'We're better than this'
REACTION: The Stormers are not just disappointed in their performance, but also frustrated that they have to wait a month to rectify the matter.
The Lions surged to the top of the South African conference in the United Rugby Championship with a convincing 37-19 win over the Stormers in Cape Town at the weekend.
It saw the Lions climb to the 10th spot on the overall standings, with 11 points from their five games, two clear of the Sharks, while the Stormers (seven) and Bulls (five) bring up the rear.
The game also had five yellow cards – with the Stormers receiving the first and the last ones of the game, while the Lions were down to 13 men in the first half.
Stormers coach John Dobson admitted that a lack of discipline contributed to the undoing of his team.
“There was poor discipline from both teams,” Dobson told a post-match media briefing.
“That [discipline] is something we’re disappointed with because we discussed it before the game.
“In the first 10 to 20 minutes, there were a few incidents that were clearly ill-disciplined.
“I don’t think it’s great for rugby when you have these ill-disciplined games.
“I am disappointed with our discipline and I feel it had an effect on the outcome of the game.”
He added that discipline is not just about the behaviour towards the referee, but also sticking to the plan.
(Continue below …)
Dobson was also astounded by his team’s high error rate.
The Stormers had a surfeit of possession (64 percent) and dominated territory (68 percent), beating 23 defenders and having five clean line breaks.
Dobson admitted that they were too lateral and they’re a far better team than the result suggested.
“We had 15 entries into the 22 where the ball was turned over and that is a staggering and mind-blowing statistic,” Dobson said.
“You can say it’s this player or that player, but there were numerous errors.
“We had so many calls of ‘knock-on blue, scrum red’ and that is an incredible statistic.
“It’s not an excuse, because it’s the exact same thing with the Lions.
“We just made too many errors with the ball we had.
“It was an off day.
“If you are going to dominate possession and make that amount of errors … it’s no good.
“We’re better than this.”
Captain Salmaan Moerat, who received one of the Stormers’ two yellow cards, also expressed his disappointment with the team’s lack of discipline and poor execution.
“We let ourselves down,” he said of the number of squandered chances, adding: “I doubt it will ever happen again.
“This team is a lot better than what we saw out there.”
Prop Neethling Fouche suffered a knee injury that Dobson’s not too sure about the significance of, while Warrick Gelant and Siyabonga Ntubeni came off with head knocks.
@king365ed
@rugby365com
