Stormers: John Dobson says ‘everyone wants to beat us’ after frustrating draw against the Ospreys

The Stormers left Swansea with mixed emotions as their 100 per cent record was ended following a 16-16 draw with the Ospreys.

At a rain-soaked Swansea.com Stadium, the defending champions appeared on course for victory as they led 16-9 with five minutes remaining.

A try from the conveniently named Paul de Wet and 11 points via the boot of Manie Libbok put them on course for a fourth consecutive United Rugby Championship victory, but the hosts had other ideas.

Scott Baldwin touched down late on and Stephen Myler added the conversion – to go with three earlier penalties – to level matters.

Libbok did have a late chance to snatch the win but his drop-goal was off-target and the teams had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Not used to the conditions

“Everyone wants to beat us,” Stormers head coach John Dobson told reporters.

“We haven’t played in conditions like that in the tournament. We know we had a bit of a lucky run back in South Africa between February and March.

“We will be better for this and I think we could have won it with better game management towards the end.

“You could see the Ospreys were the more cheerful team at the end, which shows how much it meant to them.”

Despite seeing their winning run – which stood at 14 – ended, Dobson was content with their display.

“I thought tonight was one of our better performances in the conditions,” he said.

“I thought we scored one of our classic tries today and it is important that we score more of those.

“I think we are satisfied. I think we are playing with energy and we are just letting ourselves down with one or two errors.”

Dobson also refused to blame Libbok for the late miss, considering the match-winning performances moments he has produced in 2022.

“He (Libbok) is great,” he said. “He is only 25 and he has been around a bit in terms of the provinces.

“I thought at the end there he almost got away, which would have won it for us. Should we have gone for the drop? I don’t know, but he is special.”

Finishing their tour

The Stormers’ attentions now turn to their upcoming clash against Cardiff next Saturday, with Dobson set to make a few changes for that match.

“That game has become more important for us now. We got to be quite disciplined about sticking to the processes,” the head coach added.

“It’s not going to be a bad team that we are putting out against Cardiff next week.

“Frans Malherbe will come in and Kitsie [Steven Kitshoff] and Joseph [Dweba] will still be around, so we are not going to fly guys back out.

“We will stick to our processes. We got 17 points from four games, so there is no reason for us to panic.

“A draw in these conditions against a good Ospreys side is no reason for us to throw out our plans.”

Click Here: new zealand warriors shirt