How John Dobson turned unfancied Stormers into die-hard troopers

The Stormers were possibly the last SA team anyone would have picked to start 2022 unbeaten in three United Rugby Championship (URC) games since January's restart.

Yet here they are, having beaten the Bulls at their prized Loftus Versfeld and drawn with the talent-flush Sharks in Durban before turning them over in Cape Town last weekend.

Their previous two matches hung on a cliff and could have gone either way, especially at Kings Park, where they benefitted from the Sharks' lax closing out of the game to steal a draw at the buzzer.

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But on Saturday, they were in control, mostly tidy in the scrums, stingy defensively, neat in ball-retention structure and produced an 80-minute performance not seen since Super Rugby, before Covid changed our worlds upside down.

The Stormers went to Durban a fortnight ago with exactly 23 playing men because of budgetary constraints, which have also limited their backroom staff travelling entourage.

Murphy's Law, of course, dictated that they lose Rikus Pretorius to a freak gash to his leg in the warm-up, reducing the visitors to just 22 players.

They were completely outplayed but stayed in the fight 'till the death, much like at Loftus, where they started brightly, ceded momentum, only to stun the Bulls with Paul de Wet's winner.

It's credit to head coach John Dobson that a team which lost so many stars in 2021 - a nucleus of Rugby World Cup 2019 winners, Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbonambi and Pieter-Steph du Toit - and suffered injuries to Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos and Neethling Fouche hasn't completely capitulated.

The threat of losing players has also not abated, as the franchise waits agonisingly for star