Good teams win when not playing well

Stormers coach John Dobson admits he can’t be too churlish about less-than-perfect performances in his team’s last two outings.

The Stormers stretched their unbeaten Vodacom URC run to seven matches after coming back from 10-0 down inside the opening quarter of an error-ridden display to beat the Lions 34-27 at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

“We’re still unbeaten. If you’d told me earlier in the season we’d be in this position, I’d have taken it, he said. “The character of this team keeps bailing us out – and that’s something to be proud of.”

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The Stormers were outplayed for long periods, particularly in the first half, but once again found a way to win when it mattered most – a trait Dobson believes has become a defining feature of his team.

“We were under huge pressure early on and I never expected them to get so many yards so easily,” he said. “Physically they were on top of us for a large portion of that game and our carrying in the first half wasn’t good enough. To my mind, it was a poor performance.”

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Despite that, the Stormers fought back well, with their bench helping swing momentum in the second half.

“A sign of a good team is that they can win even when they’re not playing well,” Dobson said. “There’s something in this group. It’s not a squad full of big names – it’s a bunch of guys willing to work for each other, do the ugly things and the unseen work.”

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A week earlier, the Stormers overcame La Rochelle in the Investec Champions Cup with a display which married the sublime with numerous basic errors, but Dobson said he was mindful not to be overly critical with recent performances.

“We were not quite there [against the Lions], but I must be careful about being churlish, because I wasn’t thrilled after La Rochelle either. But it still was a good win.”

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He added that he had thanked his players “because if we’d said in September we’d be six points clear at the top of the URC log … they are doing a very good job”.

The Stormers are next in action when they host the Vodacom Bulls on 3 January.

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images