Stormers coach John Dobson was not worried about the indiscipline shown by his team in their 34-18 bonus point win over Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday, despite them conceding two yellow cards and a red, while one yellow to Edinburgh made it four handed out in the match.
Dobson claimed that most of the cards were due to pressure that the Stormers invited on themselves, and said that getting a card is a regular occurrence that they plan for in today’s game, although he did admit that the foul play cards weren’t good.
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Manie Libbok received a first half yellow card for a deliberate knock down after massive pressure on the Stormers line, while Evan Roos received a yellow card in the second half due to a scuffle with his opposite number, which ended with him landing awkwardly with his arm on the players throat.
Sazi Sandi then received a late red card for a clash of heads with an Edinburgh player, after he tried to wrap the player up high, which led to the two players connecting heads, which the ref deemed as a high level of danger and had no mitigation.
“We started giving away defensive penalties because we weren’t physical fronting up, which meant we weren’t in the right places when needed and I think that was the problem. In regards to the foul play that’s not good,” said Dobson.
“It’s (getting a card) just so prevalent in rugby at the moment. If you think back to three years ago we had a really rare card protocol. Now every game we are prepping for all the card scenarios and positions. It is certainly not just us by any stretch.
“So I am not irritated with my team for their discipline at all, maybe just their work rate that put our discipline under pressure.”
Game of two halves
It was a game of two halves for the Stormers, as they weathered a massive storm from Edinburgh to go into the halftime break trailing 10-7, before turning it on in the second half to run out comfortable winners and clinch a bonus point to boot.
“Our character came through again. It was very similar to last week. We were under the pump for a long time. With the forwards I can squeeze them a bit, because it is tough when you are defending maul after maul and pick and go after pick and go,” said Dobson.
“So it was really good character for us to come out on top and I am pleased with the result. I just said to the team downstairs imagine what we could do if we get some possession.”
