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Dobson says Gelant ‘magic’ swung result the Stormers’ way
The men from the Cape edged the Bulls in a thrilling URC match at Loftus Versfeld.
Warrick Gelant, who played off the bench on Saturday, has been credited for his big part in helping the Stormers beat the Bulls at Loftus. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
Warrick Gelant was credited with producing the magic that saw the Stormers rescued from the brink as they clinched an exciting 30-26 win over the Bulls in their United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld over the weekend.
The Stormers threw away an 18 point lead that they’d built during the first half, with the Bulls powering back with 26 unanswered points to take an eight point lead into the final 15 minutes, only for Gelant to make a telling contribution in the end.
“I am very proud. It was very hairy, I thought there were a couple of key moments where they could have buried us,” said Stormers coach John Dobson afterwards.
“They were so dominant and got so many 22m entries. We had to defend I think eight 5m lineouts and our whole plan was not to give entries.
“I think the way the Bulls got into our 22m was a really good reflection on them, they got themselves back into the match and I am just amazed that we clawed our way back.
“The way Warrick Gelant came on and created some magic, I think that probably was the only thing that was going to get us out of the position we were in.”
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Dobson was quick to point out that the stop-start nature of the competition to date has been extremely hard on the teams, as they have struggled to build momentum and get any consistent form going due to it.
However, with an important four weeks of local derbies scheduled, sides can finally build some valuable momentum going into the rest of the competition.
“The stop-start nature of the competition is frustrating. We went and played the Lions on the 4th of December after not having played for a while and we lost badly,” explained Dobson.
“We then went into basically another pre-season before playing the Bulls here, so it’s really tough to keep going through these mini pre-seasons all the time.
“After that Lions game we were really desperate because we lost a home game most of the country would have expected us to win. So we put a lot into this game and we have worked really hard the last couple of weeks.
“These URC derbies are almost eight or 10 point swings, so they are really important to us and the result against the Bulls was massive.”
