Dobson hails Stormers' game control: 'We're not arrogant, but won without over-exerting ourselves'

Stormers coach John Dobson hailed his charges for, ironically, not over-exerting themselves in claiming an excellent 32-10 victory over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Cape franchise's latest success means they make a significant leap on the overall United Rugby Championship log and now sit prettily in seventh on points difference, delivering a performance that was compelling exactly because they merely feasted on their hosts' tsunami of mistakes.

While talk of loftier honours is premature, the hallmark of a good side is the ability to keep gears in reverse when they aren't required and that's exactly what Dobson's men did.

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"Look, we wanted to be better today than we've been over the past few weeks and I thought we were," said the Stormers mentor.

"But, from a certain point of view, we sort of managed the game well and took our opportunities well. We probably left a few points out there in the first half, but in the end we were really clinical.

"The thing is, we had to manage energy."

It's a comment Dobson hopes doesn't come over as "arrogant".

"I don't want people to take this the wrong way, but you can't over-exert yourself here on the Highveld (if you can help it)," he said.

"Not against a team like the Lions. In the end, I think it's probably fair to feel that we won over-extending ourselves and I really don't mean that in an arrogant way."

And by all means the Stormers' performance doesn't deserve to be perceived in such a manner.

What they did is just play what's in front of them.

"In terms of what we wanted this week, I'd say we achieved what we wanted," said Dobson.

"The Lions defended our mauls very well. That facet of our game had