Energised Stormers looking forward to a return to Newlands – Dobson
The men from the Cape have been up-country for three matches in a row and now return 'home' with confidence sky-high after Griquas win.
Stormers scrumhalf Paul de Wet looks to run the ball during his team’s Super Rugby Unlocked match against Griquas on Saturday. After three weeks up north, the Cape-based side return ‘home’ this week. Picture: Getty Images
Already bracing for a Cheetahs backlash, the confident Stormers are sweating over the injuries of wing Edwill van der Merwe and lock David Meihuizen this week.
The Stormers bounced back from their disappointing showing at Loftus the week before with a six-try bonus-point win of 39-6 against Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday, to move to second on the log, but six points adrift of the pace-setting Bulls.
Also having to still face the Sharks away in their final game, coach John Dobson said they will assess Van der Merwe and Meihuizen this week after both picked up hard knocks against Griquas.
“They will both go for scans before we can say what is wrong with them,” said Dobson after the Stormers’ third win in four starts.
“It will, however, be great to be back at Newlands for only the second time against a good Cheetahs side where we will hopefully build on this performance,” said Dobson. The Stormers’ last three games were away – in Nelspruit, Pretoria and Kimberley.
With fullback Warrick Gelant in sparkling form, the Stormers were, for the first time this year, in splendid attacking form.
“We were pleased that we could attack with a bit more flair which was what we were trying to do,” said Dobson about the performance in the Northern Cape.
“I am pleased that we controlled the territory in the first half, yet combined it with rhythm on attack,” he said.
“We have left too many tries out there this year, but what is nice is that we were creative and it’s better than not creating opportunities at all,” he said.
Dobson conceded though that Griquas did well in the scrums and that the Stormers didn’t get the dominance that he would have like there which made them work harder on attack.
“A lot of the new guys, like lock David Meihuizen, flank Marcel Theunissen, wing Angelo Davids, and scrumhalf Paul de Wet, brought the energy which we expected of them and the team played with a lot more enthusiasm,” he said.
“There were, however, still too many errors, but we’ll take heart from the energy the guys showed, something we will need this weekend against the Cheetahs,” he said.
“This win was great for our confidence in what has been a tough start (following the resumption of rugby a few weeks ago); being up on the highveld in extreme heat three weeks in a row,” said Dobson.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
