Cape Town – Stormers head coach John Dobson said they broke hooker Joseph Dweba's trust after a video of the Stormers celebrating that they will play in a second successive home final in the United Rugby Championship (URC) was leaked from a team gathering.
The video was posted after their semi-final victory over Connacht at DHL Stadium, where they watched Munster's Jack Crowley slot a winning drop goal that secured a home final for the defending champions.
The two teams face each other on Saturday (kick-off 6.30pm) in the final of the tournament, where the Stormers will look to secure back-to-back titles.
Dweba was prominent in the celebration video – which shows what the home final meant to the team as they celebrated – and in his ecstasy said, "we are gonna f*** them up”.
Stormers coach John Dobson says they owe Joseph Dweba an apology for 'that' celebration video. pic.twitter.com/hNHS7g2bGo
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Dobson said they owe Dweba an apology.
"We betrayed Joseph and his trust with that video going out. We have to look at ourselves there," Dobson said earlier today.
"But you won't have an oke saying (after finding out that you are playing at home), 'yeah, we're playing home against Munster, oh sh*t we are going to lose', or, 'let's lose it', if you know what I mean.
"There would not have been one rugby team in the entire world that would not have reacted like we did. Joseph's language should not have been published, it was genuinely a celebration.
"We tried to get tickets to the Champions Cup final. We were ready to go, and suddenly you look up at the TV and (see) we're staying at home. We sold out 55 000 tickets in two hours. It's a fantastic thing for Cape Town.”
The video didn't go down well in certain quarters, especially in Ireland, and Dobson also voiced his disappointment that the video was published while it was a team gathering.
"My view is that it can be misconstrued. If you tell me any rugby team, especially with our mission here in Cape Town, would not celebrate playing at home.
"People think you are celebrating because you're playing Munster. No, we are celebrating because of what this has brought to the city. I heard and might be wrong, there are 5 000 Munster fans. It's brilliant, what this means to the economy let alone the occasion and emotion.
"We were in the suite just above, celebrating having beaten, and it was a tough game against Connacht. We were having a beer.
"We were not expecting something from the Leinster-Munster game, and someone looked at the screen and said, 'watch this'. We thought this can't be happening and that we are going to play at home.”
The Stormers celebrated the win when Dweba was captured uttering the words.
Dobson said he does not doubt that the video has been used in Munster team talks because they would do the same thing.
@Leighton_K
IOL Sport