Dobson hails 'remarkable effort' as Stormers push All Blacks to the limit in Cape Town

The Stormers stayed level at 14-14 until the 65th minute and briefly threatened to produce a major upset before a combination of injuries and fatigue saw them fall away in the closing stages.

After opting for a 6-2 split on the bench, a series of injuries left them severely short of options in the final quarter. They were eventually forced to operate without a recognised scrumhalf, with the likes of Seabelo Senatla and Warrick Gelant filling in, while a loose forward was ultimately pushed onto the wing.

"There's enormous pride in that changing room. I mean, I can't fault anything about the team. It was a remarkable effort. We trained for three weeks," Dobson said.

"Obviously, it was always going to be a risk, you know, that first bit of contact. So to put out that performance, we knew we said the first five or 10 minutes our heads would ring a bit.

"We went toe to toe with them but after the injuries we were reshuffled and eventually fell off. I don't know who finished at scrumhalf, sometimes it was Seabelo or Warrick and we ended with a loose forward on the wing."

Despite the eventual defeat, Dobson felt the Stormers had genuine opportunities to cause an upset after matching the All Blacks for much of the contest.

"We dared to dream for a while, there were a couple of big moments," he said.

"That Seabelo linebreak where he headed towards the posts, and it ended up being a penalty against us, the maul on the far side... those were big moments. At 14-all, defensively I thought we were on top of them.

"The one thing is they pass so well. That style of rugby is magnificent.

"But we did have them shut down and boxed in, and that's when I thought we really had a chance."

The Stormers' hopes were ultimately undermined by injuries, with Dobson confirming several significant setbacks after the match.

The most concerning was a serious knee injury suffered by scrumhalf Imad Khan in a freak incident without contact. Khan was left in tears after being forced from the field.

Veteran Dewaldt Duvenage also suffered a broken arm in what was effectively his final professional appearance, while Ruhan Nel picked up a calf injury and Deon Fourie was forced off after 61 minutes.

"Imad's got a reasonably serious knee injury, and Dewaldt suffered a broken arm," Dobson said.

"Brannas [Fourie] isn't serious.

“The two serious ones are unfortunately the scrumhalves. Dewaldt is not a big loss to the future, but I felt for him in his last game, and he did bloody well for a 40-year-old.”