Frustration in Stormers camp after last-gasp draw, says Dobson

There was a mixture of frustration and relief in the Stormers camp after they escaped with a last-gasp 38-38 draw against Ulster in Belfast on Friday, coach John Dobson said.

Dominating a lively United Rugby Championship clash for long spells and scoring five tries, the Stormers needed a last-minute penalty try to snatch a share of the spoils.

In a dramatic finale, referee Andrea Piardi ruled that Ulster scrumhalf Nathan Doak had made shoulder-to-head contact with Leolin Zas as the winger attempted to get over in the corner.

The draw allowed Glasgow Warriors to move above the Stormers into top spot following a 40-17 win against Cardiff.

“It’s probably a mixture of frustration that we didn’t get five points, because I thought at times our dominance was pretty imperious,” Dobson said.

“But in the end we’re probably lucky to get the three.

“There were four clear moments.

“The two pick-and-go penalties we conceded — one of which is a 14-point swing — then Evan Roos’s knock-on on the tryline from a pick-and-go, and another knock-on when we were played in.

“Those are four clear tries, and that’s without the general what-ifs.

“So that was frustrating regarding some of our mistakes.

“I thought our fight was good — the scrambling defence — but we fell off at times.

“And very disappointing discipline with offside penalties, soft penalties, which put us under pressure.”

A swirling wind resulted in the Stormers struggling to master the aerial battles.

“I think the most disappointing thing, in very tough conditions with a swirling wind, was the contestable kicking game,” said Dobson.

“We’ve worked so hard to become good at that, and we lost one or two of those contests.

“We were probably slightly behind them in the air, which hasn’t been the case for a while.

“The Stormers are also a team that has relied a lot on scrum and maul penalties to get territory and attack.

“But we didn’t get that reward. We had one scrum on our ball, which is normally where you get penalties, and they stopped our mauls very effectively.

“So we had to find another way, and I thought that was very pleasing — that we could still score tries and get on top of them without that dominance.

“It’s definitely a game we feel we should have won, without taking anything away from Ulster.

Dobson said loose forward Deon Fourie looks set to be sidelined for a long time after picking up an injury when he was cleaned out at a ruck by Ulster skipper Iain Henderson.

“I feel very sorry for Fourie,” he said.

“That type of action has to be removed from the game. No player can survive that.

“If we don’t take that out, there’s no room for turnovers, and the game becomes like rugby league.”

“But don’t think the player meant to injure him deliberately, but it’s a big blow for us, especially with the form Deon’s been in.”

Scorers:

Ulster 38 Tries: Werner Kok (3), Zac Ward, Mike Lowry, Eric O’Sullivan. Conversions: Nathan Doak (4).

Stormers 38: Tries: Evan Roos, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Imad Khan, penalty try. Conversions: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (4). Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Other URC scores: Bulls 54 Zebre 19, Sharks 46 Benetton 7, Leinster 31 Lions 7.