Stormers coach pleased with ‘nicer problem’

REACTION: Stormers head coach John Dobson can finally breathe a sigh of relief after his team’s 39-6 win over Griquas on Saturday.

The Stormers produced a much better performance following their lacklustre display against the Bulls last weekend.

Even though it was far from their best showing, the six-try rout made sure the men from Cape Town got their Super Rugby Unlocked campaign back on track.

“We were pleased that we could attack with a bit more flair. I’m pleased with the first half, how we controlled the territory, yet managed to combine that with some rhythm on the attack,” Dobson told reporters after the win in Kimberley.

“I think we left a few too many tries and points out there, but it is a nicer problem to have that than to not create opportunities, which has been the case lately,”

Aside from the Stormers’ dominant set-piece work courtesy of Juarno Augustus, John Schickerling, Mbongeni Mbonambi and Steven Kitshoff, there were several striking individual performances from the backline.

Springboks Warrick Gelant was one man who stood out. He was an essential part of the Stormers attack setting up two of the team’s first-half tries.

The likes of Angelo Davids, scrumhalf Paul de Wet and the midfield combo Rikus Pretorius and Dan du Plessis also added vigour to the display in the Kimberley.

"New players like David Meihuizen (lock), Marcel Theunissen (flank), Angelo Davids (wing) and Paul de Wet (scrumhalf) brought the energy that we expected of them," Dobson said.

"I think the team played with a lot of energy and character. We were still chasing kicks very hard at the end, putting pressure on the opposition - so that was very pleasing,"

In terms of casualties, Dobson revealed that wing Edwill van der Merwe will be ‘out for a while’ after the wing limped off the field in the opening minutes.

Lock David Meihuizen will undergo a scan to determine the severity of his injury.

“Injury wise, Edwill will be out for a while and there's a concern around David Meihuizen but we will have him scanned and see what he looks like later. For the rest, we’re all good,”

@rugby365com