The Stormers were absolutely thrilled to secure a South African clean sweep in the United Rugby Championship (URC) this season after the hosts held on to an exciting 29-23 win over the Sharks at the Cape Town Stadium over the past weekend.
The Stormers went into the match having already done the double over Highveld sides the Bulls and Lions, while they had dismantled the Sharks 46-19 in Durban a month ago.
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But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the defending URC champs, after they let a 26-6 lead slip in just over 15 minutes of play in the second half, but then managed to hold out for a win that also sealed the South African Shield with three games to spare.
Stormers coach John Dobson admitted after the game that the record was an important one for the team and one that they are extremely proud of.
“It actually was important to us at the end. It’s a nice achievement for this group. That’s why I was panicking towards the end there. I am not sure how often this is going to happen, that you are going to get a South African team that wins all three (derbies) home and away,” said Dobson.
“In that second half, how many tries did we throw away? At some point, when we had a three point lead, I thought we would just take a draw. But to give up this clean sweep would have been sad.”
Poor discipline
Dobson pointed to poor discipline in the second half that allowed the Sharks to fight their way back into the game, with a host of penalties and two late yellow cards, that saw the Stormers finish with 13-men, making the game a lot closer than it initially looked after a strong first 55 minutes.
“I was very disappointed with discipline in the second half. It was poor. We definitely should have gone for poles when we were 15 points up (after Yaw Penxe scored the Sharks first try in the 58th minute). It was very poor. There were some disappointing elements,” said Dobson.
The coach also hailed a feel good factor in the squad, who have been without their Springbok stars for the past few weeks, which has seen their fringe players step up and perform fantastically.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard on the shape and depth of this group. Everyone here feels a sense of belonging, it doesn’t matter who they are,” explained Dobson.
