{"id":391282,"date":"2026-01-04T15:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/391282\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T15:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:17:08","slug":"dobson-hails-win-why-derbies-help-springboks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/391282\/","title":{"rendered":"Dobson hails win, why derbies help Springboks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stormers director of rugby John Dobson hailed his team\u2019s 13-8 win over the Bulls as being an \u201camazing\u201d contest and feels these matches are benefiting the Springboks.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest United Rugby Championship (URC) attendance of the season saw the table-topping Stormers make it eight out of eight in the league as they edged a titanic tussle with the Bulls on another weekend of derbies.<\/p>\n<p>They left it late in front of a Cape Town capacity crowd of 53,862, but once again found a way with replacement prop Ntuthuko Mchunu claiming the match-winning score off a lineout drive 90 seconds from time.<\/p>\n<p>10 out of 10<\/p>\n<p>That makes it 10 out of 10 in all competitions for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/stormers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stormers<\/a>, giving director of rugby <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/john-dobson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dobson<\/a> further reason to celebrate just days after signing a four-year contract extension.<\/p>\n<p>Giving his verdict on the sold-out showdown with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/bulls\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bulls<\/a>, Dobson said: \u201cIt was a tough derby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was amazing was the contest everywhere. That\u2019s probably what is making South African rugby so great at the moment, why we win World Cups, that we are so used to this game \u2013 scrum, lineout, maul, breakdown, massive contests. It\u2019s just really good for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/south-africa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">South African<\/a> rugby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could hear the thuds in the coaching box, which is insulated. It was crazy stuff.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/stormers-v-bulls-five-takeaways-as-springboks-10s-fall-short-of-standards-in-gripping-derby-decided-by-le-rouxs-all-or-nothing-gamble\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stormers v Bulls: Five takeaways as Springboks 10s fall short of \u2018standards\u2019 in gripping derby decided by Le Roux\u2019s \u2018all-or-nothing gamble\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/stormers-player-ratings-springboks-playmakers-kept-in-check-while-experienced-forward-shines-in-another-victory\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stormers player ratings: Springboks playmakers \u2018kept in check\u2019 while experienced forward shines in another victory<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a desperate Bulls team, a good Bulls team. Look how many Springboks were in their pack. So, it\u2019s a good win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Providing the view from the visiting camp, Bulls skipper Ruan Nortje said: \u201cBoth teams were in it the full 80 minutes and, although there wasn\u2019t a lot of running rugby, I think it was an exciting game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll credit to the Stormers for finishing in the 78th minute. That\u2019s why they are top of the log. When they get the opportunities, they finish. We had our opportunities to win the game and just couldn\u2019t execute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still confident<\/p>\n<p>It was a sixth straight defeat for the Bulls in all competitions, and they are down in 11th in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tournament\/united-rugby-championship\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">URC<\/a> table.<\/p>\n<p>But second-row Nortje remains positive, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of belief in this team. We were in this position a few years ago, so I know we will get ourselves out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=planetrugby.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/bulls-player-ratings-springboks-trio-win-the-scrum-battle-but-backs-cant-take-advantage-as-willie-le-roux-makes-bizarre-and-stupid-error\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bulls player ratings: Springboks trio win the scrum battle but backs can\u2019t take advantage as Willie le Roux makes \u2018bizarre and stupid\u2019 error<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stormers director of rugby John Dobson hailed his team\u2019s 13-8 win over the Bulls as being an \u201camazing\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,36177,818,209442,44,760,1183,85,134440,134441],"class_list":["post-391282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bulls","tag-home-page","tag-john-dobson","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-stormers","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}