It was part of a string of dismal defeats for South African sides in the European competition this weekend, as the Bulls were beaten 61–49 in Pretoria by Bristol Bears and the Durban-based Sharks lost 26–10 to Sale Sharks.
The Stormers and Sharks fielded weakened sides, with the former handing debuts to several players, but Dobson was still left shocked by their capitulation against a Harlequins team that had been woefully out of form.
“While we did leave a few players in Cape Town, we still thought we had a team that could compete better. We were hoping to get a point at least out of the game, but we didn’t really come close,” Dobson said.
“A desperately disappointing performance. I thought we got beaten, most importantly, at the breakdown and defensively, which was not really up to our standard. We probably also didn’t stick to our plan in terms of what we wanted to do on attack.”
The Stormers’ 10-match winning run at the start of the season, including two in the Champions Cup, is now at an end, and they face another English side in Leicester Tigers in Cape Town on Saturday as they try to secure a play-off place.
“We’ve learned a lesson now. We always knew that three wins out of four should get us to the last 16, so that’s still on track,” Dobson said. “But Leicester now becomes a really big game at Cape Town Stadium and it’s in our hands. If we win the game, we should host a play-off.”
Leicester have already sealed a play-off berth with three wins from three, and it will be interesting to see what side they send to South Africa.