By
Director of Rugby John Dobson is confident of the Stormers putting together a strong run in the Champions Cup, starting with their opener against RC Toulon in Gqeberha.
The Stormers went down narrowly in their United Rugby Championship coastal clash with the Sharks in Durban on Saturday. It was a frustrating outing for the visitors, who looked to have secured a dramatic win at the death before Manie Libbok's try was disallowed due to a knock-on in a previous ruck.
The Stormers will host French giants RC Toulon at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium this coming Saturday, before travelling to take on Harlequins in London.
âœWe do have to make sure that in the URC we get into the top eight, but we are going to respect the European competitions," Dobson told the Stormers' website.
"On Saturday, we face Toulon and we will see what happens there. The local URC derbies are non-negotiable [but] we're not going to bail on the Champions Cup now because we lost.
"The game is one we will go and enjoy playing. There isn't any pressure. We will go and attack the Champions Cup and enjoy it."
Reflecting on the tough loss to the Sharks, Dobson lamented his missing Springboks.
"We were without five of our Boks," he added.
"To come here and fight like we did gives me hope about the team. I saw a lot of our DNA out there. On other days, those aren't going to go down like that. I feel quite confident that we can put together a proper run now, especially as those Boks come back. To come here and do what we've done, in a funny way, it gives me hope. There are way more positives and it gives us a good place to launch from.
"We created so many opportunities. To be fair, the Sharks also probably bottled one or two. That was probably the difference in the end. We can look back thinking we could've won the game right at the end there."
READ MORE: Blitzboks lament poor ball control in Dubai
