Stormers’ hopes of home play-off alive again – Dobbo

2026-03-16 - 08:53

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson said his team’s bonus-point win over the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday alleviated pressure on the remaining six regular-season URC matches, and made their prospect of a top-four finish more realistic. An out-of-form Stormers stunned the Bulls 32-19 in Pretoria, ending their own three-match losing streak as well as the Bulls’ four-game winning run in the United Rugby Championship. Dobson described it as his most important and most dominant victory at Loftus since he took the reins in 2019, now four wins out of five at the Bulls’ home. Stormers may have to win one away The result lifted the Stormers from fifth to second on the overall log. While they have the same number of points as Ulster and Leinster in third and fourth, their points difference is greater. The Stormers are also now just four points adrift of table leaders Glasgow Warriors, whom the Stormers host next month. The Stormers have a mix of relatively easy and tough matches remaining, hosting struggling Dragons and Edinburgh over the next two weeks before travelling to French giants Toulon for the Champions Cup round of 16. If they win, they will play a quarter-final the following week, before returning home for URC matches against in-form Connacht (18 April) and Glasgow Warriors (25 April). They then travel to Ulster (8 May) and Cardiff (15 May) for their final URC games before the play-offs. A finish in the top four would mean a home quarter-final, and Dobson said history showed teams do not lose those. “We can realistically think of a top four, and those teams don’t lose quarter-finals. Not the Bulls, not us,” the Stormers boss said. “That is where our goal is. If we hadn’t got that today, it was out, I think. It’s still alive now. We might have to win one of those on the road, and I think Glasgow is easier said than done.” Stormers flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Picture: Gallo Images Sacha praised by coach and captain Of the Bulls game, Dobson added that flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had the captaincy taken from him after a win and two defeats, “deserved enormous praise” for reining in his desire to create opportunities out of nothing, and sticking to the script when they were down to 13 men and against the pump. Captain Ruhan Nel added that the mercurial playmaker only made one great line-break of his own as he diligently fed the ball to others and kicked well. “He was in tears in the changing room and I was sitting there taking the moment in and I said to him ‘enjoy it’,” Nel said. “He was under a lot of pressure and the way he controlled it, between him, Damian [Willemse] and Warrick [Gelant], he needed it.”