Cape Town — While the Stormers didn’t stretch their impressive winning streak in their Round Five United Rugby Championship clash against Ospreys at the weekend, they have no reason to be disappointed with the 16-16 draw, especially considering the conditions.
Going into the match against the Welsh side, the defending champions were on a 14-match winning streak, and while they didn’t make it 15 on Friday night, the result in no way puts a taint on their form. John Dobson’s unit led 16-9 well into the game, with a late converted try by the hosts leveling the scores.
Ospreys didn’t hold back with their selections as they went with a strong outfit that featured a number of stars who had been rested prior to the game against the Cape side.
And that said a lot.
The weather conditions were also of course a huge factor and considering that the Stormers hadn’t played in such testing conditions in their first three games — or even last season — but still held their own and came close to claiming another win was testament to their quality.
Speaking after the match, Dobson said: “Everyone wants to beat us. We haven’t played in conditions like that in the tournament… I can’t remember when last we did…
We couldn’t see the field from where we were.
“We know we had a bit of a lucky run back in South Africa with all those home games (between February and March). It’s only right that it’s going to work like that in this competition.
The Ospreys had to come down to us in February in 32 degrees in Cape Town. They’ve got to go to Pretoria in November.
“That’s part of this competition. We have to be able to play both sorts of games. I was pleased with that side of us. I thought it was one of our better performances, given the conditions.
We were reasonably good tactically until the last 10 minutes. We had lots of territory and scored one of our classic tries.
“We will be better for this and I think we could have won it with better game management towards the end. But we are satisfied.
I thought the way the Ospreys stayed in the fight was really good. Both teams tried to win it at the end. It was pretty hair-raising.”
And satisfied they should be.
The Stormers have one more game on tour (against Cardiff) before they head back to South Africa. While a win would obviously have been ideal, the inaugural URC title holders shouldn’t lament not getting their 15th win on the bounce too much.
It terrible conditions in a game the opposition clearly targeted, the Stormers did enough to be able to seek out — and focus on — the positives from the 16-all deadlock.
And they don’t have to look too hard to find them.
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