Stormers coach John Dobson identified the key areas where his charges need to improve in the wake of their 38-all United Rugby Championship draw with Ulster.
The Cape Town men were leading for large parts of the entertaining fixture in Belfast and had several chances slip through their fingers. And just when all seemed lost, a last-gasp penalty try handed them a draw and three vital log points.
Speaking to the press after the match, Dobson highlighted contestable kicks, discipline and the forward battle as areas to improve on as the URC playoffs loom.
“I think the most disappointing thing, in very tough conditions with a swirling wind, was the contestable kicking game,” he said.
“We’ve worked so hard to become good at that, and we lost one or two of those contests. Ulster were slightly better than us, which has not been the case in a while. But again, it wasn’t easy conditions.
“Very disappointed with the discipline. We got offside for the last few penalties, the soft penalties, and that put us under a bit of pressure.
“We’re a team that has relied a lot on scrum and maul penalties to get territory and attack.
“But we didn’t get that reward. We had one scrum on our ball, which is normally where you get penalties, and they stopped our mauls very effectively.
“So, we had to find another way, and I thought that was very pleasing – that we could still score tries and get on top of them without that scrum and maul dominance.
“It’s definitely a game we feel we should have won, without taking anything away from Ulster.”
The Stormers end the league phase of the URC with a trip to Wales to face plucky Cardiff on Friday, where they will be looking to bag five points to book home advantage for the playoffs.
