Africa-Press – South-Africa. Stormers coach John Dobson admitted that he has tempered his expectations of how well South African teams will do during their host of home games in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
Matches hosted by the South African teams all ended in wins for the home sides this past weekend, but Dobson took note of how visiting Scarlets, Munster, Cardiff and, to a lesser extent Zebre “stuck around in matches”.
The Stormers, playing in Stellenbosch last week had the more comfortable game of the weekend.
The Sharks kicked into gear late in the second half in the encounter against Scarlets; the Bulls went to sleep in the second half of their match against Munster while the Lions showed good fight to keep Cardiff at bay at Ellis Park.
“I always felt had the home matches been played [in late November/December], and everyone got the points on offer, the log would have looked better because it looked dreadful for South African teams,” Dobson told reporters on Thursday ahead of their Cardiff clash on Sunday at their familiar Cape Town Stadium.
Games were postponed last year as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus swept through countries across the globe – South Africa was not spared.
“It does concern me how good they were [visiting teams] in the second half [of their matches], but 32 degrees in Cape Town on Sunday, playing the rugby we are playing; it’s going to be tough for them.”
The results last week have seen a shift on the log as far as South African teams are concerned.
The Sharks are sixth, while the Stormers are eighth on the overall log. The Bulls occupy tenth while the Lions are 14th.
“I do expect the South African teams to do well, but I have tempered it after last weekend,” Dobson said, adding:
To drive his point home, Dobson pointed to the fact that more overseas teams in the URC are yet to land on these shores.
“It’s not going to be as easy as we thought. If we rely on the conditions we saw last week, it won’t be enough to get us wins,” he added.
Sunday’s game gets underway at 14:00.
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