Stormers coach John Dobson apologised for his team’s “poor” performance in their 27-21 home defeat to Ospreys on Saturday night.
A bonus point thanks to a penalty try on the final whistle saw the Stormers end the weekend in sixth place.
But then a string of Stormers supporters had already left Cape Town Stadium after a performance in which they made too many handling errors, gave the ball, and points, away cheaply and also failed to make their chances count.
Dobson says: “In terms of our performance, [it was] just the loos- est and I’m really sorry about that. I can only apologise, it was poor…”
His assessment is spot-on, as the Stormers entered the break 17-7 down after flyhalf Manie Libbok gifted Ospreys wing Luke Morgan (who scored his first try after collecting a grubber in the ninth minute) his second fivepointer by kicking a cross kick down the throat of the Welsh team on the half-time buzzer.
Defeat at DHL Stadium. Congrats to the @ospreys on the win. #STOvOSP #iamastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/soplGX2BNn
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) April 20, 2024
Sam Perry also scored for the visitors from close quarters in the 26th minute, with Dan du Plessis touching down for the hosts in the 14th minute after some good interplay with centre partner Wandisile Simelane following a lineout from just inside the Ospreys half.
Four minutes after the break, the hosts scored the try of the match when Simelane pulled in a few defenders with a run from inside his own 22 before passing to Libbok, who then looped around Stefan Ungerer to unleash Evan Roos who sprinted home (17-14).
This week we have the chance to show what it means to play for this team and our fans with Leinster coming to DHL Stadium on Saturday. An opportunity to show what we are made of and repay the incredible support we enjoy. #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/EGGLF2mgRE
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) April 21, 2024
But when Harri Deaves barged over with 16 minutes to play and Ospreys added a penalty to make it 27-14, it was basically tickets for the hosts as they simply couldn’t convert their chances after that.
With a string of attacking lineouts amounting to nothing, the Stormers finally got within seven points on full time when Ospreys were penalised for a deliberate knockdown.