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It wasn't just the blustery conditions that made the Stormers drift off course in their Champions Cup quarterfinal exit to Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on Saturday.
They were blown away by a sublime Exeter Chiefs team, came the frank admission of visiting coach John Dobson after his team suffered a deflating 42-17 defeat.
The Stormers, who have established a proud home record again, found the going tough on the road as they suffered a fifth away defeat in European competition this season.
The Stormers travelled to the UK in three different groups and appeared as fragmented on the field as Exeter ran out to a 21-0 lead in the half time. While he admitted everything went against his team before half time Dobson was loath to blame their travails en route to Devon for their lacklustre start.
“What worried me a bit in that first half was that we weren’t folding on defence like we should have been. We looked flat,” he said.
“I thought we handled the cards we were dealt in terms of travel as best we could. We did everything we could. We travelled in three or four different parties and got in late on Wednesday.”
Dobson acknowledged Exeter were sublime. “It was a performance of yore, when they were European champions. I can’t really extrapolate that onto the travel.
“We want to be in this competition. It is two of the last three weeks where we have really kicked poorly in windy conditions. That has more of an influence on the outcome than the travel, without question.”
Facing the wind in the first half the Stormers made heavy weather of their few opportunities, while on defence they were uncharacteristically out of sync.
“I don’t want to make excuses, but in those first 20 minutes we were making too many single tackles, we weren’t making steals and the ball they were getting was too fast. That spirals and that’s certainly where we missed Deon,” said Dobson about the absence of fetcher flank Deon Fourie who missed the game with a facial fracture.
“There were a couple of steal opportunities, he would have called an extra cleaner in or slowed the ball down.
“We did miss him a hell of a lot. I didn’t expect it to be quite like it was. Credit to Exeter for how they played, but we did miss him and Nama Xaba, out-and-out stealers.”
At the start of the second half Dobson pushed Hacjivah Dayimani and Willie Engelbrecht into battle. His team generally played with greater purpose going forward but a defensive lapse saw Exeter extend their lead.
Damian Willemse made the most of a offload close to the try line from Seabelo Senatla and while two more tries followed for Suleiman Hartzenberg and Marvin Orie the visiting team never really got a foothold at Sandy Park.
They will travel home with much to digest from the Champions Cup. They, and South Africa's other top franchises, will have to go to extraordinary lengths if they are going to meet success in that competition.
Sure, it was always going to be difficult having to play away from home in the knockout stages as prescribed by the organisers but even when that restriction is lifted SA's teams will generally be more travel-weary than their rivals in England and France. They don't have to embark on transcontinental journeys to meet their local league commitment.
It is just one of the quirks the Champions Cup has presented this country's teams who now have to turn their attention back to the United Rugby Championship.
The Stormers play Munster in Cape Town on Saturday, though they will not have all the benefits that come with a home match.
“This week we will have a one-day training week again. That might end up costing us a second-place finish,” Dobson said.
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