The gulf between the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers was clear enough on Saturday for all to see, and you need not even have mentioned the 6-0 lopsided scoreline between the two sides in two years of Vodacom United Rugby Championship matches at all.
But Bulls coach Jake White has intimated that he needs more “X-factor” players if he is going to compete with Dobson’s charges, while praising his opposite number a lot more than many media reports have suggested.
The bottom line is that the Bulls have to find a way out of their current malaise. They no longer dominate South African rugby - the Stormers have that tag now, and any good team would reassess and find a way of making up the ground they have lost.
White’s solution is through recruitment, not only to bolster the depth in his squad but to also give his side a more attacking edge.
The late return of Marcell Coetzee is one thing, and a handful of players are joining the Bulls next season, but there is a real need to bring in some fresh talent that can do things differently because after six straight losses, the Bulls’ current attack plan is not working.“When I reflect on the URC, that’s the one thing I see we are probably lacking, a couple of x-factor guys,” said White.
“Maybe next season we will do a bit of recruiting, get those guys to open the game up a bit. That is our work-on, that’s what I said to the players. I guarantee that we will get it right, that we will work hard and by this time next year we will be a much better team from the lessons we learned in this campaign.
“There are a lot of things I think we can still improve on. We will get it right. We will have a big debrief about what we need. I am lucky to be at an organisation that will buy into that.
“If we need to find x-factor players, then we will find them. If we need to change our pre-season training, we are going to have to find a way to prepare our team to win a URC. We aren’t there yet, but we will get there. We will get it right.”
PRAISE FOR DOBSON
White was full of praise for the Stormers, and despite criticisms of the referee and TMO, he never said a bad word about John Dobson and backed the Cape side for this weekend’s semifinal against Irish side Connacht.
“The Stormers are the benchmark at the moment. With all due respect to Connacht, it will take a massive effort to fly down and beat them, so it’s likely that they will be in the final for a second year in a row.
“The model is simple, not saying that it’s easy to get. They have a good scrum, efficient lineout, strong defence and when Manie’s kicking well at goal, it becomes so difficult to catch up once they get scoreboard pressure.
“I need to find who we need to have that x-factor, good set-piece and have that style. It’s obviously something that works in this competition.
"Credit to the Stormers, they're champions, they've got a good team. They've got an incredible record here. They've got 10 incumbent Springboks," White said.
"They looked sharp, their explosiveness is very good. [And] we're missing that. The Stormers are a very solid outfit.
"They can hold you in the first phase, they can put you under pressure when you try and play from lineouts, they have an incredible defence system. And as soon as you turn the ball over, they can punish you.
"They're not scared to have a crack and that seems to be the winning recipe for the way you want to win this competition."
UNHAPPY WITH DECISIONS
But he wasn’t happy with some of the decisions that went against his side - particularly the clash that saw Johan Goosen taken off on a stretcher and Cyle Brink yellow-carded.
"I think some guy whacked him on the head in a tackle. There were a couple of head-to-head clashes tonight which no one saw.
"I watched a test match where some of those tackles get red carded, tonight we had the best TMO, the best referee in South Africa, but there's nothing wrong."
"A lot of work goes into preparing video clips of things. The answers are that it won't be allowed and then you see the same pictures in the game and it is allowed.
"So, I think one thing we're going to have to work out is how can we, through the URC, find a way to get them right.
"I've heard there's zero tolerance on hands past the ball on the ground, but it didn't look like that tonight. I heard that if you sack a maul, and it's a tackle, then you can't lie on top of the ball. But that didn't happen tonight either.
"But to be fair, that's what the Stormers do well and you've got to adapt to that. They do it well, they're very good at it. For argument's sake, one of the things they did really well tonight was that they played the support runner in the breakdowns and then got over the ball, and never once got penalised for taking out the support runner without the ball.
"But credit to them, they've obviously worked really hard at their breakdown and it works for them. They've got a good set-piece, they defend well.
"So, if I analyse the game - it's funny how we went 7-0 down and I actually said 'sheesh I don't want the ref to give a penalty at scrum time when someone slips' and then we were 10-0 down.
"And then when you're 10-0 down against the Stormers it's incredibly tough because you have to chase the game. And then their defence is so good that once you have to start chasing the game, you put yourself under pressure."
SEEING RED OVER YELLOW CARD
On Brink’s yellow card, White also saw double standards.
"I saw exactly the same picture on the other side of the field when the captain asked the official 'didn't he tackle him head to head'? And then he said, 'No, he didn't have the ball'.
"I didn't know you could tackle a guy without the ball. For me it was a yellow card against Cyle for exactly the same picture as against Keagan Johannes in the other corner.
"So, I repeat, I think we’re going to need to find a way, we've spent a lot of time and effort and Rassie has taught you this many months ago, putting videos together asking about it and then you see the pictures and then you don't get any joy from the same pictures.
"I've got a lock playing for the Bulls in the Currie Cup tonight. He got red-carded in a test match for exactly the same tackle that I saw tonight in this game."