Despite his team’s narrow defeat to Munster in the United Rugby Championship (URC) final in Cape Town on Saturday, Stormers head coach John Dobson is still optimistic about his side’s future in the tournament.
The Irish province sealed a memorable 19-14 victory over their hosts in front of a capacity crowd at the DHL Stadium to secure their first silverware in 12 years.
Although the defeat was obviously a bitter pill to swallow for Dobson and his troops, who were playing in their second consecutive final, the head coach is happy with the strides his team made during their recent campaign.
“We really, really wanted to win this Cup,” Dobson said after his side’s loss to Munster.
Looking at the bigger picture
“But we also have to be disciplined and look at the bigger picture. We did something special. At half-time (in the game) I told the guys we had some fault correction to do, and they got that right.
“At the start of the season, we did not write down ‘retain our URC title’. We wrote down ‘increase our depth’, and prove that we belong at the top table of the URC and European rugby.
“And, increase the sense of belonging of everyone in the group, from the ground staff to everyone, even the non-playing squad. And to make Cape Town smile.
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“Unfortunately, it (the loss) feels weird.”
The men from the Cape have certainly bolstered their ranks with the likes of Angelo Davids, Marcel Theunissen, Ben-Jason Dixon and Suleiman Hartzenberg amongst the players who have made the step up in the URC.
Dobson believes they can still increase the depth in the squad and they will go a long way to achieving that once they have secured an equity deal – something which he feels will allow them to sign experienced players.
“We are a way off that,” he said with regards to competing with the same squad of players in the URC and Champions Cup.
“If we go off to La Rochelle for the semi-final (in the Champions Cup) and come back and play a URC quarter-final, we would not be here. It sounds like there are going to be adjustments to the (salary) cap.
“We need bigger squads. Our depth at the moment, is the guys who are doing well in the Currie Cup. They are really promising youngsters, but that’s not going to solve the Champions Cup problem, not for a while.
“You almost need a model, let’s say hypothetically, where you have a big European Cup game away, and Kitsie (Kitshoff) Frans (Malherbe) and Joseph (Dweba) went to that, and then you have a similar front row staying behind in Cape Town, prepping for the next URC game.
“If we go to Exeter, we should have a team back who is good enough to be able to beat Munster here.”
Quietly confident
Dobson is quietly confident that he will be able to strengthen his squad once the Stormers‘ equity deal is sorted out ahead of the 2023/24 season.
“Our younger structures, pathways and depth are absolutely brilliant,” he added. “We probably just need a few more players to compete.
“We’ve done this under administration, but that doesn’t work under austerity.”