John Dobson bitterly disappointed after Stormers' shambles

Coming off a month-long layoff, the former log leaders might have expected to hit the ground running. But in their way was a staunch Lions team tuned up by their win over the Sharks last week, and the Stormers crumbled.

Even with 15 against 13 at one stage, the Stormers were held up over the line three times and failed to score any points in the last 30 minutes of the match, where the Lions' physical advantage really paid off. As such, Dobson was honest in his assessment.

"Very disappointing result for us,” he told the post-match press conference. 

"We corrected a few things from Durban [after the Sharks'loss], but we simply made too many mistakes. In the first half, we turned over nine balls in contact, and it continued,"

"Despite the start, I thought we had enough time, especially when they were down to 13, to turn it around. But we showed no composure.

"In the final minutes, two passes drifted into touch when we were chasing a bonus point. And we were held up three times over the line."

"The truth is, we didn't deserve to win. Three defeats in a row are not good enough. There are signs we can be a strong team again, but we're hurting right now.

"We apologise to our supporters. We're very disappointed not to have taken points from that game."

The Stormers travel north to Loftus Versveld to face the Bulls on 14 March, before returning home to host the Dragons and Edinburgh in Cape Town.