Stormers coach laments 'nightmare' Cape Town pitch, heaps praise on URC champions Munster

Stormers coach John Dobson admitted that the atrocious nature of the Cape Town Stadium pitch played a role in their 19-14 defeat against Munster in Saturday's United Rugby Championship final.

The stadium's playing surface has been the subject of conversations for the past two months and even though it rained on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, sunshine on Saturday dried conditions out a bit.

It was clear throughout the contest, however, that the pitch was incredibly slippery underfoot and that Munster adapted far better than the Stormers. 

In the build-up to Saturday's pulsating final, News24 spoke to the Cape Town Stadium's management, who acknowledged the pitch issues and revealed the turf wasn't getting enough rest due to constant event hosting.

MATCH REPORT | Stormers' URC dreams shattered as 56 000 at Cape Town stadium stunned by Munster

And while a new 50% synthetic, 50% turf pitch will be laid in the coming months, the Stormers struggled to play their fast-paced, high-intensity running game on Saturday. 

In fact, the pitch had already started to cut up significantly during training on Friday and did the same during the respective warm-ups on Saturday.

"I just hate mentioning the field, because of how it's going to sound," Dobson said.

"I really thought the referee was superb and put in an excellent performance, but the field was a nightmare for us.

"I take it on me, because maybe we should have changed our game model. Maybe we should have slowed down the line-speed, kicked contestables, not try too many counter-attacks or go around the back.

"Maybe we got those things wrong, because those were tough conditions to play our game model in and we should have adapted."

RECAP | Agony for Stormers as Munster win URC final 19-14

Dobso