VIDEO: The good, the bad and the ugly after Stormers' horror show
It was described as the worst performance in years, as the Stormers’ brains trust searched for positives after their quarterfinal exit in the United Rugby Championship on Friday.
The defending champion Glasgow Warriors scored 17 points in a 10-minute second-half blitz that saw a one-point (19-18) lead balloon to a comprehensive 36-18 victory for the Scottish outfit.
It was a disappointing end to the campaign for the Stormers, who endured a frustrating outing in Glasgow against a team that ‘outsmarted’ them tactically and ‘bullied’ them physically.
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A bitterly disappointed Stormers Director of Rugby, John Dobson, spoke of a ‘plethora of errors’ that cost his team dearly in what was one of their worst defensive efforts of the season.
The scrums were good and the effort was acceptable, but the outcome reflected the chasm in quality between the two teams Scotstoun Stadium.
“A massive credit to Glasgow for their defence,” Dobson said, adding that poor kicking also came back to haunt the Cape Town-based franchise.
The Stormers boss spoke of the extraordinary number of linebreaks by Glasgow (11) and the even worse stats on tackle completion rate (just 72 percent) – with 39 missed tackles.
“We kept our worse performance in a couple of years for a knock-out game,” Dobson said of the Scotstoun stinker.
“It wasn’t our night.”
Instead of going ‘around on the outside’, like the Stormers expected, Glasgow used short, inside balls to expose an already compromised defence – a tactical victory for Glasgow’s South African coach Franco Smith.
The Warriors roared into the semifinals with a brace from Kyle Rowe, allied with tries from Rory Darge – in a Player of the Match-winning performance – George Horne and Henco Venter.
That ensured that the Warriors will continue their defence of the title next weekend, with their opponents to be confirmed following the remaining quarterfinal action.
Smith spoke about the tactical changes they made, include a line-out trick play that saw Darge score a try inside the opening 10 minutes.
“As long as we don’t become predictable, that is important,” the tactically astute Springbok turned coach said in his post-match reaction.
“We have to find different ways to cross the line and I appreciate that it worked out often.”
Smith said his fellow South African, Henco Venter, was excellent.
“Henco [Venter] wanted to ‘repay’ us for the time lost [through a ban] and he did just that.”
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