Stormers "wake up call" was against the Lions not Blues

By Athenkosi Tsotsi

The Stormers were bought down to Earth by the Blues, who produced one clinical performance by winning 33 - 14 on Saturday 29 February at Newlands.

That was John Dobson's sides first defeat of the season, the coach deemed the loss following a dismal display a wake up call. The defeat came as a shock to the Super Rugby favourites, and from his tone and body language expressed during his post match press conference Dobson was a deflated man.

"It is a massive wake call, probably for me the most disappointing, for someone who prided themselves in our physicality and character, both of them were absent today. We began to look like victims today, we just were not working hard enough, we were sliding off tackles and giving them yards in attack, that is the most disappointing.

It is a great wake up call for what becomes a massively important game against the Sharks. Very disappointing, a lot of  elements in our game we were not happy with; missing the amounts of tackles, generally our work rate, generally our stopping power," said the dissatisfied Dobson.

The wake up call for the Stormers should have been the game they played against the Lions at Ellis Park in their round 3 fixture. Their defence conceded 30 points, although it was the first time they had shipped in points in the season, but eyebrows should have been raised by the Stormers coaching camp.

The Stormers greatest strength is their forward pack, it has also proven to be their greatest weakness lately. Against the Hurricanes and Blue Bulls they were able to withstand the attacks of their opponents because they were toothless and did not offer much. Now the Lions and Blues attacked with precision, they had more flair in their play, the midfielders were ball playing involving the wingers; the Stormers forward pack could not handle that.

At Ellis Park Elton Jantjies first stepped inside out Wilco Louw, that passage of play ended with the prop twisting his ankle. Jantjies also tore through the defense line which predominantly had forwards on his way to scoring a try, it was too easy as they could not touch him.

In total on Saturday the Stormers missed 35 tackles, a vast majority of those were when Mark Telea danced around them, it was easy for him too. The trio of Seabelo Senatla, Sergeal Petersen and Dillyn Leyds who are known for their offensive exploits have also been suspect at defending on the sides.

Defensively, the Stormers need to tighten up, a lot of work has to be put in during their bye week. At this current rate one can not help but fear for them, when they return to face the Sharks, who are playing some delightful attacking rugby.

Too soon for the Stormers to give up on their title aspirations, but it feels like a Deja Vu moment for the team from Cape Town, they have been dubbed favourites before and have failed because of unexpected losses along the way, similar to the one against the Blues.

Dobson said he would have preferred to play immediately instead of having a bye week, the bye week is a blessing and it gives his side a chance to pick up the wake up call.