Stormers ready for a dogfight

The Stormers play Connacht at 4pm on Saturday in the first of the United Rugby Championship (URC) semifinals and they are readying themselves for a dogfight.

Their head coach John Dobson holds the view the Irish team, who upstaged Ulster in Belfast to reach the last four, are endowed with mongrel and have rid themselves of the underdogs tag in the Irish conference.

“We were chatting about Connacht a couple of weeks ago and it’s similar to what we say about ourselves. As [Seabelo] Senatla says, they’ve got ‘dawg’ in them, and they have.

“They’ve won seven in a row. There is something there. That is worrying. The way they fight, and their attack shape is really good. Connacht have a great story, from a windy greyhound track in the far west with the smallest budget [among the Irish franchises]. They don’t go away. They will be tougher than we think.”

Indeed Connacht’s demolition of the much vaunted Ulster pack got many observers sitting up on Friday night. The team from Galway silenced the Belfast crowd by keeping Ulster on the back foot, primarily by dominating the gainline.

Though Dobson was loath to look beyond this weekend’s semifinal he admitted his team’s lead up to the URC’s May 28 final, should his team get there, is more desirable than that of tournament favourites Leinster.

Should Leinster, the most decorated team in the competition, reach the final, they would have played Toulouse, the Sharks, Munster, as well as La Rochelle in the weeks leading into the URC final. Though Leinster possess great depth in their squad, that fixture list will stretch their resources.

Dobson admitted his team would not be able to cope if similar demands were placed before them.

Leinster’s Champions Cup final against La Rochelle, the team who beat them in 2022’s final, will no doubt be another slugfest that is likely to again exact a physical and mental toll.

To get to the semifinal, the Stormers delivered one of their more compelling performances against the Bulls, who never looked like they were in a position to topple the defending champions.

“In the context of our rivalry against the Bulls for the last while, it was one of our best,” said Dobson. “It was probably a bit better than the win in December,” he said about the 37-27 win for the Stormers. “I was very pleased.”

The coach conceded his team lost their grip on proceedings once they strong-armed the Bulls into a position of submission.

“We possibly could have got a bit more reward in the first half. We were irritated with ourselves and spoke about it at halftime because they scored a try without making a pass, only because of our own poor discipline and a good maul by them. That’s always the danger with the Bulls.

“We weren’t at our best in the second half and I thought the Bulls played really well and showed character. We wanted to make the Bulls play catch-up and we got that, but we didn’t execute properly.”

URC semifinal line-up Saturday, May 13:

• Stormers vs Connacht — Cape Town, 4pm
• Leinster vs Munster — Dublin, 6.30pm