The Stormers were left lamenting a string of costly individual mistakes after Saturday’s 33-24 Vodacom URC defeat to Connacht in Cape Town.
Stormers coach John Dobson and captain Ruhan Nel refused to hide behind the emotion of a difficult and emotional week following the death of long-time team manager Chippie Solomon.
“I think it was individual errors,” Dobson said. “If we don’t make some of those mistakes, we don’t lose the game.
“There was the bounce of a kick, a dropped restart and an intercept. Those moments cost us.
“I can’t really talk to the emotion, but I don’t think we can use Chippie and the tough week we had as an excuse for some of those mistakes. We were beaten.”
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The Stormers coach was particularly frustrated by what he felt was an unnecessary attempt to force the game instead of sticking to the basics.
“We were very loose,” he said. “There were patches in the first half where we just tried to shovel the ball around without doing any work.
“At half-time we said let’s be more direct, maybe a maximum of one pass.
“There was something curious about us today. We felt like we needed to sort of invent to get it down, to beat them.”
Dobson said the Stormers’ maul had proved effective but that “we just didn’t convert nearly enough opportunities”.
Nel echoed those sentiments, saying the game plan was not at fault.
“It was a heavy week, probably one of the tougher weeks we’ve experienced as a group. But at no point do we want to use that as an excuse.”
“That [defeat] is on us. I don’t think we can fault the plan or the understanding of it. That was 100% there. It was about execution.
“In the second half we probably became a bit individualistic. I don’t know, but we became desperate.”
The Stormers now turn their focus to a home clash against log-leaders Glasgow, who slumped to a 54-12 defeat to the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Cape side then embarks on a two-match overseas tour to close out the regular season ahead of the playoffs.
Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
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