The 36-12 defeat to Leinster that has dropped the DHL Stormers back a few places to 12th on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log has taken them back to where they were at the end of November - needing to rely on derby wins to get back into the competition.
A top eight finish is still realistic for the Stormers as some of the other teams contending for the playoffs, such as Edinburgh, also had their chances hurt at the weekend. Edinburgh are eighth, just three points ahead of the Stormers, while Benetton, who were seventh before the weekend, have dropped back after being thrashed by the Ospreys.
But a top four finish, is what helped the Stormers make the final in the first two years of the URC in its current incarnation, is starting to slip away from the Cape side as a realistic goal - unless they win all their derbies.
Which is pretty much where they were when they were beaten in Stellenbosch by Glasgow Warriors at the end of October. With the international break interceding, their next game was against the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban followed by Cape Town derbies against first the Lions and then the return game against the Sharks.
They lost the Durban game by a narrow margin but hit bulls eye with a full 10 points from their home derbies to bring them back into contention and give them winning momentum.
After returning from Dublin with no points to show from the Aviva Stadium game against Leinster, that’s pretty much what the Stormers need to do again, with the derby against the Bulls at DHL Stadium on 8 February now a must win game.
TEND TO GET UP FOR BULLS
The Stormers tend to get themselves up for the Bulls, particularly on their home patch, but the pressure won’t end there as they are due to finish off the derby phase on the highveld against the Emirates Lions before the return game against the Bulls.
“We’re going to be under pressure in the local derbies, we need to make it up there,” said coach Dobson.
It is certainly not a new position for the Stormers, and not just because they experienced it two months ago. Last season the Stormers went into their December derbies against the Bulls and Sharks also with the Sword of Damocles hanging over them after a poor tour, in fact a worse tour than the one earlier this season.
They ended up winning both games and it helped lift them to a fifth-placed finish.
The Leinster experience though will undermine any confidence in the Stormers’ ability to win a playoff game overseas, which they will have to do if they don’t lift themselves into the top four. Their best chance may well come if they finish outside of the top four if they are drawn to play one of the South African sides who are likely to finish in those positions, the Sharks or the Bulls.
For his part, while frustrated at the defeat at the Aviva Stadium, Dobson was still reasonably upbeat when looking forward.
“I don’t think for one second we’re a bad side; we’re a side that’s coming good,” he said.
“It was just one of our worst days in the office in a couple of years, to be honest. It's good learning for us as an organisation, that you can take X amount of players out on national duty and still field a team of that quality.”
The Stormers quite obviously lost because of their abysmal performance in the lineouts, but Dobson also pointed to the problems his team encountered at the breakdowns. He didn’t say so, but that would have been down as much to the interpretations of the Irish referee as it was to the quality of Leinster’s play there. Dobson, though, gave credit to his team’s opponents.
“Breakdown superiority is what we wanted to do to them, and as it turned out they did it very well to us. The final score was 36-12, so it’s kind of hard for us to point fingers in any direction (meaning the referee) other than they beat us really well in that area.
“Our frustration probably started early on with the lineout, with us losing too much of our own ball. It was the same in Paris (against Racing 92) last week. Once you’re losing lineouts and giving away penalties, they can get through their phase play in the right areas of the field.
“I thought they were excellent at the breakdown and we were poor in our attempts to slow them down. The whole thing cascaded due to the pressure they were applying on us.”
INORDINATE NUMBER OF PENALTIES
The Stormers did concede an inordinate amount of penalties. By the 50th minute they had conceded 12, which is quite a few more than they would normally concede in one game. That, coupled with Leinster’s knowledge that there was always a good chance that a Stormers lineout throw would lead to possession for them, enabled the hosts to spend the game camped in Stormers territory.
“It’s a lesson for us, how they played with as many players they had in Portugal for Ireland’s Six Nations preparations. That they could put on a performance like that is credit to them… putting us under pressure, and the pressure was everywhere,” added Dobson.
The Stormers can console themselves with the knowledge that it is not the first time this season that Leinster have humbled rated opposition. Admittedly they were much closer to full strength, but they thumped English Premiership leaders Bath in the Investec Champions Cup last week, and are unbeaten in the season, having won most games comfortably in all competitions.
And with All Black centre Jordie Barrett and Springbok lock RG Snyman playing for them, plus several regular Ireland internationals making an appearance to get in game time, the usually competitive second string Leinster team was a bit stronger than that for this game.
Still, the Stormers know they should have been a lot better, and are capable of much more. The Stormers’ mission statement is to make Cape Town smile, but right now that’s a role being fulfilled by the MI Cape Town team playing in the Betway20 cricket competition…
A win over the Bulls in a game that coincidentally falls on the same weekend as the cricket final can change that, but Dobson will have to sweat over the injuries that saw Manie Libbok and JD Schickerling leave the field before he starts his buildup for the eagerly anticipated derby.