Stormers coach slams 'desperately disappointing' performance against Quins

While the Cape Town outfit sent an understrength team to England for the clash at The Stoop due to having one eye on this weekend's final pool stage clash against Leicester, Dobson admitted they were hoping for a much better performance.

"While we did leave a few players in Cape Town, we still thought we had a team that could compete better. We were hoping to get a point at least out of the game, but we didn't really come close," he admitted.

The Stormers were taking on a Harlequins side short on form and confidence after three straight drubbings in the English Premiership, but their largely second-string outfit had absolutely no answer for a Quins side that bossed the breakdown battle and made their opponents pay for every mistake.

The match was all but over as a contest at half-time, as Quins raced to a 33-0 lead thanks to five unanswered tries.

"A desperately disappointing performance," Dobson conceded. "I thought we got beaten most importantly at the breakdown and defensively, not really up to our standard," he said. "We probably also didn't stick to our plan of what we wanted to do on attack."

Despite the disappointment of the heavy defeat, the Stormers' season remains on track. They'll be back at full strength at the DHL Stadium to take on Leicester, where a victory will send them through to the Last 16 of the Champions Cup and should see them earn a home playoff match.

They also remain top of the URC standings ahead of the resumption of the competition on 23 January.

"We've learned a lesson now. We always knew that three out of four should get us to the last 16, so that's still on track," Dobson added.

"Leicester now becomes a really big game at Cape Town Stadium [on Saturday] and it's in our hands. We win the game, we should host a playoff."

"We're looking forward to Cape Town, but we will have to be much better than we were today."