Stormers know they need to rise above refereeing error

After they were done in by poor refereeing last week against Edinburgh it was unsurprising this week to hear the word come out of the DHL Stormers camp that there is a big emphasis in the aftermath on controlling the controllables.

Referee Ben Whitehouse made some grave errors that arguably set up the Stormers for defeat at The Hive in Edinburgh, and there was obvious frustration from coach John Dobson after a game where his team conceded what he said was a record number of penalties for his team in the URC. He wanted clarity on several of them, there was also a feeling that penalty tries should have been awarded, and then of course there was the blatant miss of a hands in the ruck that led to the turnover that set up the try that sent Edinburgh more than a score clear.

But the end score was 38-7, which means the Stormers imploded after the 59th minute Whitehouse mistake, and they know they need to be better than that, and rise above the frustration of refereeing error, if they want to get their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign back on track at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.

“The first thing we have to look at is ourselves. Some days things go for you and some days they don’t and we did make mistakes in the game that I felt was in our control and we need to work on that,” said assistant coach Dawie Snyman as the Stormers switched their attentions to the challenge posed by 2022/2023 champions Munster.

End of our tour in Edinburgh. #EDIvSTO #iamastormer @Vodacom #URC #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/3Ut3DwHRkf

— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) October 12, 2024

For a start, the Stormers could be more clinical in finishing off their opportunities. The Vodacom Bulls also had refereeing problems in their game against the Ospreys, and that was underlined this week when a URC disciplinary panel regraded David Kriel’s red card to yellow. But the difference between the Bulls and the Stormers was that the Bulls took their first half opportunities so they converted their momentum into points.

The Stormers didn’t always have momentum, and were defending for most of the opening 20 minutes, but there was a definite momentum shift after that and into the third quarter. In that period they were undeniably thwarted by refereeing error, but they also wasted scoring opportunities by being less controlled and more rushed than they were in their big win over Zebre the previous week.

“If you look at the end scoreline it doesn’t look good and we are not proud of that,” Snyman said. It was a combination of us not taking opportunities, which Edinburgh did really well, and other errors. But we are creating opportunities and it is still early days in the season so we will keep working on what we are working on. We just need to be patient. We have only played three games.”

To illustrate Snyman’s contention that his team is creating opportunities, they were over the line four times against Edinburgh, with two tries being disallowed and the other two just not being dotted down.

What really appeared to cost the Stormers was the way they chased the game later on. They got it right, and were frankly unlucky and thwarted by the referee, during the 20 minute period before halftime when they were chasing a 14-0 deficit. They scored one try but were so dominant in the scrum and maul by then that they should have scored more, and they were making inroads when they were tighter around the ball.

However, when they went 14 behind again going into the last quarter, that was then they lost the plot.

“There were a few soft moments, particularly in that back 20 when we started chasing the game,” said the assistant coach.

“That was when we were our own worst enemy. We gave Edinburgh too many 22 metre entries. We have had a look at how we chase games. We could have done things differently. We also started the game poorly, conceding five penalties in a row. At the back end of the first half I thought we got a bit desperate and we forced things. It was all a bit uncharacteristic with what we had worked on and planned during the week.

“We also didn’t scrum well in the last 30 minutes against Edinburgh. Shimmie (Hanyani Shimange), Brokkie (Harris) and Rito (forwards coach Rito Hlungwani) will have done their analysis on why that was the case.”