Stormers director of rugby John Dobson said his side’s bonus-point win over the Bulls at Loftus yesterday was the most meaningful of his wins there since he took the reins in 2019.

The teams have clashed 12 times in the United Rugby Championship in that time, five at the Pretoria union’s home ground, reports The Citizen.

The Stormers have now won four of those, the latest (score 32-19) ending their three-match losing streak while the Bulls also saw the end of their four-game winning run.

‘Nobody gave us a chance’

The Stormers boss admitted that the hype around the resurgent Bulls, and disregard of the Stormers helped them in the build-up.

“Nobody gave us a chance,” Dobson said. “Sometimes that’s good luck, especially when you come to a place like this. It did help that people had written us off.”

He said that the fact that the Bulls were as strong as ever made the win all the more meaningful.

“Where we’ve come from, a lot of doubt and questions, you think of the noise around some of our players… we were under a lot of pressure.

“Our team was unbeaten and there was a lot of hype and then ‘where are we going, what is wrong with the Stormers’, getting defined by some of the okes on social media… it was probably our most important win, and I also think to be honest, our most dominant performance up here.

“It was big win for us because it’s not an average Bulls team. It’s not a Bulls team in crisis. It’s a Bulls team with momentum and real class, well led, well organised. A big win.”

The coach praised his team for defending against the Bulls when down to 13 men, while dominating scrums and lineouts.

Stormers revert to the basics against Bulls

But the driving force behind the improved performance was a return to the Stormers identity.

“It’s easy to get loose. We’ve got so much attacking ability, it’s easy to fall into the trap that you want to create stuff,” said captain Ruhan Nel.

“I thought the way we stuck to the plan and continued to put pressure on them even when down to 13 guys on the field. It’s a true testament to our character and the hard work we’ve been putting in the last couple of weeks.

“We had to get a little bit back to our identity. Strong set-piece, kick well, defend well, do the basics well and that Stormers rugby just naturally come for us.”