CAPE TOWN – Stormers coach John Dobson says their ‘goodbye’ to Newlands was the best they could do under the circumstances.
The Stormers bagged a 30-13 victory over the Cheetahs at Newlands in the penultimate round of the Super Rugby Unlocked competition and scored a few top tries in the process, and the fact that they did that in their last game at the stadium made the positive result even sweeter.
While the make-up of the squad that will do duty in the Currie Cup will be the same as the one currently playing in the Super Rugby Unlocked competition, the game against the Cheetahs on Saturday marked the last time the Capetonians would run out onto the Newlands pitch as the Stormers.
With Western Province rugby moving to Cape Town Stadium from next year, this is the last season that the iconic venue will play host to the Stormers and WP sides.
Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of things have been different since domestic rugby returned.
The South African teams have, over the last six weeks, played in empty stadiums, and while there was some ‘crowd noise’ at times (the Stormers gave their fans the opportunity to send artificial cheers through an app, which was played over the Newlands speakers), it wasn’t the same.
Playing with the support of the Faithful is one of the factors that would certainly have added to the send-off but, nonetheless, they didn’t do too bad with what they had available, Dobson said.
“Of course the lack of a crowd doesn’t make it fitting. I didn’t watch the game on TV, I watched it looking through one eye from the coaches’ box, but it was a really, really physical game,” Dobson said.
“For us to win against such a physically strong and desperate side, to produce a performance like that, in which we scored some nice tries against really good opposition is probably a nice way to say goodbye.
“It’s the best we could do under the circumstances, I think.”
The Stormers next face the Sharks at Kings Park on Saturday in their final Super Rugby Unlocked game.
IOL Sport