Glasgow Warriors’ Franco Smith: ‘I’ve always wanted to take difficult jobs’

F ranco Smith knows his appointment as Glasgow Warriors head coach in August last year wasn’t greeted with cheers on the banks of the River Clyde. “Most fans probably didn’t know who I was,” he says with a shrug.

“They wanted a big name. Everyone seemed to want Scott Robertson [who will take over as All Blacks coach in 2024]. They wanted someone who had won competitions. But why would someone who won anything want to come coach here? What other people say has never bothered me. I know the fans are all on board now.”

Of course they are. On Friday, Smith’s Warriors will fight to become the first Scottish club to lift a major European title when they take on Toulon in the Challenge Cup final. They have already secured Champions Cup rugby next season after finishing fourth in the United Rugby Championship while topping their conference. It’s been a remarkable debut season for a coach who has actively sought the path of most resistance.

“I’ve always wanted to take difficult jobs where budgets are smaller or the culture needed work,” he explains, citing a CV that includes stints with the Cheetahs in his native South Africa, with Benetton Treviso in Italy, as well as the Italian national side where he helped develop a generation of future stars.

“I want to be significant, not just successful. The fact that critics wrote me off from the start shows how success is down to perception. But perception is fickle. I do hope the naysayers now won’t judge a book by its cover anymore.”

Smith’s presence at Scotstoun is further evidence of the South Africanisation of Scottish rugby. His thick Afrikaans accent is not out of place in a dressing room that includes five South African-born players with another on the way next season in the