John Dobson has confirmed that the Stormers will provide feedback to Rassie Erasmus and the Springbok coaching staff following Friday's 38-21 defeat to the All Blacks at DHL Stadium, as part of a developing alignment between South Africa's URC franchises and the world champions ahead of the four-Test Greatest Rivalry series.
The two coaching groups exchanged information before the All Blacks' tour opener, with Dobson describing the pre-match discussions as genuinely productive. "We had a chat last week, just normal alignment," Dobson said. "They pointed out a few things, 'Have you thought about this, watched this?' And we said we've noticed this, picked something up, and they said thanks for it."
Dobson revealed that the Boks shared two specific pieces of intelligence with the Stormers, at least one of which played out on the field on Friday. He indicated a follow-up conversation — informal but purposeful — will now take place. "I'll probably give feedback on the match. We are South African teams and I think they'd be interested to know how we experienced the clash."
The Stormers were level at 14-14 before the All Blacks pulled away in the closing stages. Despite the defeat, Dobson believes the cross-camp relationship has tangible value. "It feels like we haven't done that before, so that discussion was nice."
The All Blacks face the Sharks in Durban on Tuesday before the Test series kicks off, with three matches in South Africa — two in Johannesburg and one in Cape Town — followed by the fourth Test in Baltimore on 12 September.