Chastened but Dobson already planning for 'massive' Leicester clash

Losing by 51 points was a freaky way for the DHL Stormers to lose an unbeaten record that had been built up over 10 games, and director of rugby John Dobson was in a chastened mood leaving London after his team’s massive loss to Harlequins on Sunday.

However, while he admitted that the third-round Investec Champions Cup clash was “a desperately disappointing performance both in terms of process and outcome”, Dobson has always had much of his focus trained on what comes next - the final round fixture against Leicester Tigers at DHL Stadium on Saturday evening (17.15).

Regardless of what happened at the Twickenham Stoop, the Cape Town game was going to be a big one for the Stormers. Had the Stormers won against Harlequins, they’d have been playing for top position in Pool 3, but now, as it stands, they are playing for home ground advantage in the round-of-16 scheduled for April.

Theoretically, the Stormers, who lost 61-10, can still be denied a place in the top 16, which is assured if they finish in the top four in their pool. But it will require the Stormers to lose without a bonus point against Leicester, and Leicester scoring four tries in addition to their win. That would enable Leicester to leapfrog the Stormers, who are currently four points ahead of them in third position.

The Stormers’ chances of advancing would then depend on Harlequins, who are currently second in the pool on 10 points to the Stormers’ 9, beating La Rochelle away to La Rochelle on Sunday (17.15).

Going up to 10 points would have made sure of the Stormers’ top-16 finish regardless of what happens in the last round, which was why Dobson said before the Harlequins game that a bonus point would be the equivalent of a win for his team.

TREATING LEICESTER LIKE IT IS A KNOCK-OUT GAME

Of course, the preferred outcome from the last round for the Stormers would be for them to win against Leicester Tigers, and preferably with a bonus point, thus putting pressure on Harlequins to beat La Rochelle in order to deny the Cape team a home round-of-16 clash. The four-try bonus point notched by a Harlequins team that went into the Stormers game in crisis was enough to ensure they will be in the first playoff round.

Dobson was one of the management members flying back on Sunday night so that he has a full working week to put the final parts of his planning for Saturday’s game in place. It was because of the short six-day turnaround that Dobson went understrength to London.

“We now look forward to what should be a massive game, almost now a knock-out game, at Cape Town Stadium at the weekend,” said Dobson.

“It is against one of the giants of Europe so it goes without saying that we will have to be much better than we were today. While we did leave many of our best players at home we still thought we would have a team that would compete better. We wanted to get at least a point out of the game. We didn’t come close.”

Once the match day 23 was announced last Friday, it became apparent that the Stormers were rank underdogs despite their recent run of poor results in the Gallagher Premiership. Dobson was convinced his team was equipped to be competitive and even challenge for the win at the Twickenham Stoop.

“It was very disappointing, especially since some of the guys involved contributed to some really good results on the road this season. We didn’t really stick to our plan on what we wanted to do. Especially on attack I think we were seduced by playing into a really strong wind in the first half.

“But we look to Leicester now. We always knew this would be a tough game and we never saw it as one that would break our challenge if we lost, so our quest for a top 16 finish and home game is still on track. What we didn’t want to do was lose like this. We could have lost 9-0 and that would have meant we get nothing out of this game, but we would have felt better about ourselves.

“Leicester now becomes a very big game. They beat Saracens last week. And they thrashed Bayonne yesterday (Saturday). (But) our future is still in our hands in this competition. All things going to plan we should host a home playoff.”

NO INJURY SETBACKS WAS ONE CONSOLATION

One of the things that would have been of concern to Dobson once it was clear his team was not going to challenge for a win would have been that the clutch of players likely to be involved against Leicester, meaning skipper Damian Willemse, fullback Warrick Gelant (who is really struggling for form), blindside flank BJ Dixon and the probable reserve lock Ruben van Heerden did not suffer any injuries.

The Stormers are already going to be without Adre Smith, who is an important part of the Stormers' bench, as he sustained an infection in a graze on his knee on what was a highly questionable DHL Stadium surface in the derby against the Bulls and was in hospital at the start of the weekend.

Ruan Ackermann, who was intended to be part of the Harlequins game and was a massive contributor to the win over the Bulls, is also out injured and is expected to sit out between nine weeks and three months with a neck injury.

Investec Champions Cup Pool 3 log: