The Stormers head back to SA with seven points from their two-game URC tour to the UK, after a bonus point win over Scarlets and tight loss to Ulster.
It was mission accomplished for the Stormers, according to director of rugby John Dobson, despite his side slipping to defeat in their second tour match against Ulster in Belfast at the weekend.
It meant the Cape side returns to South Africa after picking up a 29-17 win over Scarlets in Llanelli, followed by their 38-34 loss to Ulster, and they are now left with a four-game home run to finish the United Rugby Championship (URC) pool phase.
Thanks to their bonus point win over Scarlets, and the two losing bonus points they picked up against Ulster, for scoring four tries and finishing within seven points, they return to SA with a solid seven points.
The Stormers might feel that there was an opportunity lost, as they were more than a match for Ulster, and if it wasn’t for their ill-discipline, that saw them concede a slew of penalties and concede a yellow and red card, they may have very well won and been in an even stronger position.
“I think seven points from the tour, we probably would have signed for seven or six before we left. So in that sense, mission accomplished, coming into the four home games,” admitted Dobson.
“It does mean there’s nothing negotiable in the home games. We’re very much alive and as I say, if you said we’re going to get seven on our away tour against teams that are very close to us on the log, probably you would have taken it. But still, I can’t help feeling we beat ourselves a little bit (against Ulster).”
10th on log
They thus currently sit 10th on the URC log, one point behind three teams above them, two behind Ulster in sixth and four behind fifth placed Munster.
Although they are outside of the URC top eight for the moment, the tightness of the log means that they have a very real chance of finishing sixth or fifth by the end of the pool stage, and they should be confident of doing that due to the home run they have.
In a few weeks’ time they will start by hosting Connacht (13th), followed by Benetton (7th), Dragons (16th) and finish off against Cardiff (9th), all games they should be able to win on their home turf.
However the Stormers shouldn’t get too cocky, as it was a surprise home loss against Ospreys late in the season that put them under massive pressure, before they recovered to win their final four games in a row to ultimately finish fifth.
They will need to ensure they don’t do that again this time round, and will particularly need to keep an eye on the encounters with Connacht and Benetton which could be banana peel matches.
But Dobson admitted after their impressive win over the Bulls on the Highveld, and ahead of their tour to the UK, that it may be too late to make a play for a URC home playoff, but they could certainly finish above eighth and avoid a quarterfinal meeting with Irish powerhouse Leinster in Dublin.
