Although the Stormers were unable to extend their outstanding winning streak against the Ospreys in Round Five of the United Rugby Championship this past weekend, they had little reason to be dissatisfied with the 16-16 draw given the weather conditions.
The defending champions entered Friday night’s meeting against the Welsh side riding a 14-match winning streak, and while they were unable to extend it to 15, the result in no way affects their form. A late converted try by the hosts evened the score after John Dobson’s team had held a 16-9 lead for much of the game.
The Ospreys had a formidable team that included several stars who had been rested prior to the match against the Cape side.
And that spoke volumes.
The weather was, of course, a major role, and the fact that the Stormers had not played in such difficult conditions in their first three games — or even last season — yet still held their own and came close to securing another victory was a credit to their talent.
Dobson stated after the game, “Everyone wants to defeat us. We have never played in such conditions during the tournament… I cannot recall the last time we…
We could not see the field from our location.
“We’re aware that we had a bit of a fortuitous run in South Africa with all those home games in February and March, so it’s only fair that the same will occur in this competition.
The Ospreys had to come to us in Cape Town in February when the temperature was 32 degrees, and they have to leave for Pretoria in November.
“That’s part of this tournament. We have to be able to play both types of games. I was delighted with that aspect of our play.
We were reasonably effective tactically until the final ten minutes, during which we dominated the field and scored one of our signature tries.
We are satisfied despite the fact that I believe we could have won with better game management in the last minutes.
I think the Ospreys did a great job of staying in the fight. Both teams fought to win at the end, and it was quite tense.”
And they should be happy.
The Stormers have one more game (against Cardiff) on tour before returning to South Africa. Despite the fact that a victory would have been perfect, the inaugural URC champions shouldn’t be too disappointed about not achieving their 15th consecutive victory.
The Stormers did enough to be able to seek out and focus on the positives of the 16-all tie despite playing in dreadful circumstances in a game that the opposition aimed to win.
And they can find them without too much difficulty.