DHL Stormers head coach John Dobson said there was a lot of room for optimism with the way the Stormers played an experienced Munster side at Thomond Park.
Although the Stormers suffered their third loss in five matches this season, the Stormers coach took heart from the power of a strong set piece and a tactically astute performance against a Munster side that welcomed back three Ireland internationals.
“It doesn’t feel like Benetton last week. I thought we fought back magnificently, I don’t think we got the reward from our scrum dominance, but that was also down to a couple of our own mistakes, where we should’ve kept the ball in.
“There were three British & Irish Lions in this Munster team, backed by a crowd, in a game played in the wind and rain. We won the contestable battle and it didn’t feel like we were tactically outdone by a northern hemisphere team, which is a great improvement and probably our biggest takeaway," Dobson said.
“If we got a try, 10-10 would’ve been a fairer outcome, but this a very difficult place to win and Munster is getting closer and closer to being fully loaded. So I am very happy with the performance, but disappointed because we could’ve controlled the outcome.”
“This is proper depth. We had probably flyhalf number four playing today when you consider that Manie and Damian are one and two, and Sacha is three if we have Dan at inside centre. It gives me a lot of room for optimism.”
“This performance gives me so much hope for this team. It’s not a question of losing faith in the team, I am actually feeling proud and more excited about them now."