Franco Smith has rued the lack of depth that Glasgow Warriors have in comparison to South African United Rugby Championship (URC) clubs.
Speaking candidly after the Warriors‘ 52-14 defeat to the Lions at Ellis Park, Smith said that it’s difficult to manage his playing squad, which makes up the majority of the Scotland team.
Franco Smith’s verdict on the loss to the Lions
“It’s been 22 weeks of highly intense rugby,” he said. “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.”
However, the head coach offered a fascinating theory on what makes the South African teams so strong, citing the quality of players that the franchises have at their disposal.
While the Lions are riding high this season, ending the weekend in fourth position on the URC table, the Joburgers don’t have many Springboks on their payroll. Scrum-half Morne van den Berg was a regular in Rassie Erasmus’ squad last year, while prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye earned three Test caps. The likes of Ruan Venter and Quan Horn debuted for the Boks in 2024, but haven’t added to their tallies since.
According to Smith, what makes the South African teams so difficult to beat in the URC is the fact that they have so many players who are of international quality but aren’t being selected by the national team, which means that they are more regularly available to their clubs.
Good enough for the Springboks
“Francke Horn is playing some really good rugby at the moment, and Morne obviously at the base of the scrum is really good for South Africa, and he’s so close,” he said.
“I think in general there’s one or two players in the forward pack that maybe don’t fit the size bill [for the Springboks], but they play some quality rugby, they are very good athletes, and they get around the park, and the brand that they play here suits them so well.
“What makes the Lions a very good team, and it’s the same with the Bulls and the Sharks, is that they have Springboks-like players, but they are not Springboks. They are the most valuable players, the guys that are good enough to be Springboks but they are not Springboks, and they make the difference at the club level.
“So our second choice international, in comparison to what South Africa’s second choice international is… There is a difference in that with some players.
“I think the strength for the Lions is that they’ve got so many good players who are ready to play for South Africa, but they’re not playing for South Africa, which makes them such a good club side.”
Losing a lack of depth with foreign players departing
It’s not the first time that Smith has rued the lack of depth at his disposal, as he was disappointed by the Scottish Rugby Union’s decision not to extend the contract of loose forward Henco Venter.
The South African back-row wanted to remain at Glasgow but wasn’t offered an extension as the union wanted to limit the number of foreign players in their two professional clubs.
“It is disappointing losing the foreign players here – they’ve had value,” he said in June.
“One, to help us win. It wasn’t the main ingredient, but it is important to bring young players through. You can only put young players out on the pitch if your team is winning and there’s not much pressure on them to make the side perform.”
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
He added that having foreign players also allowed them to better manage the Scotland players after the international windows.
“It allows us to give them a weekend during the season, or to not have them play with niggles,” he said. “We can give them some extra recovery time, especially with the full schedule.
“It’s going to be quite challenging next season. Obviously, it is a directive that has got its own merit and it’s got its own explanation around that. So we’ll do the best we can despite losing some of the quality players that we’ve had.
“It would be excellent if we could have kept everybody. It’s more about a different way. For now, that is what it is.”