Leaky Stormers missing 'defensive champion' Ruhan Nel in the backline

Franchise captain Nel has missed the last two matches - the Champions Cup fixture against Bristol and Saturday's United Rugby Championship clash - and they are feeling his loss.

The outside centre position is a key player in any backline's lineup, having to make defensive reads on the fly. Scarlets ran riot in the outside channels on the weekend, running in no less than six tries and nearly upset the heavy favourites in front of the Stormers' faithful.  

Speaking to the press after the escape against Scarlets, Dobson admitted he is missing his defensive lynchpin.

"He's a defensive champion," quipped Dobson.

"I think that's where we've got a challenge, and it's not the first time it happened. It happened in both of the last games against Connacht.

"In local derbies, the South African attack we can handle quite comfortably and in some of those Northern Hemisphere conditions.

"What teams like Connacht and Cardiff have is sophisticated stack attacks. What a team like Bristol Bears did to us last week is to take us to the blindside.

"If we're not perfectly numbered and don't have a plus one [defender] there, they bring us to the open, and that takes away our line speed, and if we're not numbered up in that position, they take us on, on the side.

"We have to evolve to play against more sophisticated attacks, and that's where Ruhan has been brilliant.

"Any South African team, and I'm including ourselves in that – for instance, Stormers v Sharks have a different defensive pressure compared to playing against Connacht or Leinster, for instance. It just is, and we have to be better at that, and quickly."