Franco Smith admits Glasgow's lack of depth
REACTION: Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith had heaps of praise for the Lions, who dismantled his team by 54-12 in Round 15 of the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park, but conceded that his squad depth is concerning.
The defeat now puts pressure on Glasgow to maintain their position at the summit of the URC table, but they were done a favour by Connacht in the earlier match, who shocked the Stormers, who are just behind the Warriors in second place.
Glasgow will travel to Cape Town to face a hurting Stormers outfit, and should they suffer defeat, they could be overtaken at the top by the Capetonians or Leinster, who are both on 51 points.
Smith admitted that squad depth and player management is starting to become an issue for his team as they are under pressure to maintain their No.1 position in the tournament.
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“Every game counts throughout the season, and our build-up before the Six Nations specifically, I thought we played some really good rugby.
“We wanted to hand the boys over to Scotland in a really good condition, and we played well in the Champions Cup and got some reward there.
“But it’s been 22 weeks of highly intense rugby.
“It’s good to have several internationals in your team, but they don’t rest in the Six Nations – 23 of them go on and play, and they come back with the mental demand being enormous for them.
“For the last couple of years, home or away is always difficult to manage until the play-offs.”
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Smith had heaps of praise for the Lions’ performance and highlighted the difference in squad depth between Glasgow and the South African URC franchises.
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“What makes the Lions good is that they’ve got Springbok-like players, but they are not Springboks.
“The same counts for the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers. The most valuable players are the ones that are good enough to be Boks but aren’t.
“And they make the difference at a club level. Our [Glasgow] second-choice international [players], compared to [South African franchises’] second-choice internationals, show differences in some players.
“The strength of the Lions are that they’ve got so many good players who are ready to play for South Africa, but they’re not, which makes the Lions a good club side.”
