Stormers eye strong Cardiff response as Dobson demands better defence and finishing

Having done a thorough review of what went wrong in their 22-16 defeat to the Welsh outfit earlier this month, Dobson and his fellow coaches identified two key areas of improvement, starting with their defensive effort.

"I think we lacked line speed and tackle dominance closer to the breakdown and that made it harder for the guys out wide," Dobson said.

"Cardiff's ball speed was incredibly quick and once they get on top of you with those short passes, you're in trouble.

"It's definitely a flashpoint for us and something we're acutely aware of."

Meanwhile, Dobson was also disappointed in his side's inability to turn visits to the opposition 22 into points on the board, and the stats suggest this has been a problem throughout the season.

"We get the second-most 22m entries in the competition, but our points per entry (ninth) isn't high enough. That's an obvious area we absolutely have to improve," he said.

Dobson promised Stormers fans his players are ready to put in a much better performance than they did in Cardiff two weeks ago.

"It didn't sit nicely with us," he added. "The team is completely aligned on what we have to fix."

Saturday's clash against Cardiff kicks off at 15:30.