Stormers coach slams players after bashing by the Bulls
Stormers coach John Dobson slammed his players for an embarrassing display against a rampant Bulls side, before they were put out of their misery by an incoming thunderstorm.
When the weather gods intervened, the Stormers were trailing 39-6 against the Bulls outfit in a one-sided Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked clash at Loftus Versfeld.
Because the match had progressed beyond half-time, the Bulls were awarded all five points as the match was declared a bonus-point win in their favour.
Credit to the Bulls, they put us under a huge amount of pressure, Dobson said.
We just made mistake after mistake.
They put us under pressure in the air; we lost a lot of those contestables; their maul was really effective.
We defended their mauls poorly. We just made mistake after mistake; that s the result of
’ being under pressure.
I thought our body language was poor; we looked tired.
When you concede two or three tries in a row, the pack takes shots and they looked tired. We were frustrated with our body language.
I think we did show some “character after half-time, but the guys are very disappointed and we were embarrassed, including me.”
Despite taking a drubbing, Dobson said his charges had hoped to get back on the park to restore lost pride.
I thought in the second half “our body language was good; we played with much more energy, the guys wanted to get back out there.
You must understand, this is “a very proud rugby team with some really good players.
The players absolutely wanted to get back out there to try to redeem some pride.
They set themselves a target for how many tries they wanted to score to redeem pride. It s a very proud team and we definitely wanted to get back on the field.
We feel embarrassed by that scoreline and how we played.”
Bulls coach Jake White said he was proud of his team s effort.
The first 40 minutes were probably the best we ve played in a long time, considering the opposition we played against,” he said.
The thing that I enjoyed most was the continuity and the interplay between backs and forwards.
It wasn t a case of just playing ‘ ’ with our forwards, though I think our forwards were outstanding in the way they scrummed and the way they mauled.
It definitely set up a platform for the backs to play and I enjoyed the interplay between the backs and forwards. Some of the touches and some of the offloading were very pleasing.”
The win has left the Bulls at the top of theUnlocked log with 15 points from four outings and living up to the tag of favourites that was bestowed on them before the tournament kicked off.
White will be hoping his team continue their momentum with a derby clash against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday night.
The Lions will have their tails up after sweeping to a resounding 61-31 win over Griquas in their last outing.
However, after their showing against the Stormers, it will take a brave man to bet against the Bulls extending their lead at the top of the Unlocked table.
The week ’ s fixtures:
Friday: Sharks v Cheetahs
(7pm).
Saturday: Griquas v Stormers (4.30pm), Lions v Bulls (7pm).