Franco Smith addresses inside information fears over Stuart Lancaster

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith has no concerns that Stuart Lancaster will have the inside track on his son Dan after selecting the fly-half to start against his father’s Connacht outfit in Friday’s United Rugby Championship quarter-final.

Lancaster Jr spent the 2024-25 season working under his father at Racing 92 before the former England supremo’s 18-month stint in Paris was ended by the French giants.

The Connacht head coach said earlier this week that he had effectively coached his son “since he was six years old” and that they had agreed to suspend their regular chats about his game for a week until after Friday’s meeting.

Smith, who has previously coached against his own two rugby-playing sons – Franco Jr when he was at Zebre, and Jean Smith, who made his debut for South African side Sharks against Glasgow earlier this season – said he had spoken to Lancaster about the situation once the quarter-final permutations were known.

Asked whether Lancaster Sr may have an advantage in knowing his son’s game so well, Smith said: “Well of course, one would think so. But he’s been in our environment long enough for them not to have worked together for a bit. So that’s got nothing to do with the decision.

Fixture

United Rugby Championship

Glasgow

11:45

29 May 26

Connacht

All Stats and Data

“I think it was dealt with early in the conversation two weeks ago already. I think both him and Stuart are quite mature in this environment and they’ve obviously experienced some of it before.

“They must have spoken about it quite a bit whilst they were working together, but there’s no extra emotion that I can see, that we could have picked up from Dan this week.

“Dan is on a journey, he still needs to grow and develop and improve a lot in a lot of aspects and he’s good for that, he’s focused on what he needs to contribute, not just what’s expected.”

Lancaster Jr played a key role in helping Racing 92 stave off the threat of relegation from the Top 14 in the second half of last season after his father’s departure but when Racing opted not to renew his contract, Smith moved for the Scotland-qualified fly-half.

The 25-year-old was largely deployed as a replacement in the first half of this season, with just two starts in his first 11 games. But that trend has flipped since early January, with 10 of his last 11 outings coming in the No.10 jersey.

While a couple of injury issues and a two-game suspension for Adam Hastings may have contributed to that run, Smith stressed that Lancaster’s recent form – he has started five of Glasgow’s last six matches – meant he deserved to retain the playmaking reins, despite the more experienced Hastings being available again.

“The decision was around the continuity factor, and with Adam not having played since South Africa [against Stormers on 25 April], there was no need to go off script at the moment,” added the head coach, who has named the same backline for the third straight game.

“It gives Adam another chance to get another week to be ready if something happens and we need him going forward. Obviously we’re hoping to be in this competition as long as possible – nobody participates just to play in the quarters.

“So it’s a good opportunity for Dan also to grow and develop in a high-pressure game. He started in the European Cup quarter-final [against Toulon] which is an experience that he’s now gained, so hopefully he’ll be ready to face this challenge.”

Lancaster was replaced by Hastings at half-time in that demoralising European defeat, the only reverse Glasgow have suffered in 13 matches at Scotstoun this season.

“I never took him off because he wasn’t doing what we wanted,” Smith explained. “It was what I was hoping Adam would add to the game in the second half because they’re a little bit different in terms of skill-set. It was more of a tactical decision to bring Adam on.”

Having missed a golden opportunity to progress to the latter stages in Europe, Glasgow are desperate not to fall at the first play-off hurdle in the URC as they seek to profit from home advantage as top seeds, all the way to the final.

“We’re obviously in a very good, exciting place,” Smith said. “Everybody’s really keen and we’re not going to talk about opportunities missed. We did all the hard work to put ourselves in this position and give ourselves opportunities.

“I think the supporters and everybody would be disappointed if we don’t get it done, but we as a group worked so hard to have all the benefits of our home advantage and we felt let down the most by ourselves [against Toulon].

“So that’s not part of the conversation. I try to keep any negative things out of the environment this week. It was all focusing on the threat of Connacht and the challenges from our side to improve again on our performances.”

Should Glasgow prevail on Friday, they may be able to summon extra firepower for any semi-final against either the Bulls or Munster, which would be held at Murrayfield.

Versatile Scotland scrum-half/wing Jamie Dobie, who has been out since February after undergoing shoulder surgery, was close to being involved against Connacht “but unfortunately in his last test score, the strength was not quite there”, Smith revealed. “We made the wise decision to give him one more week at least and reassess again next week if we come through this game.”

Lions centre Huw Jones is also progressing well from a foot injury and could be available, but Scotland forward Gregor Brown would be “touch and go” even if Glasgow make the URC final on 20 June after suffering a calf injury on his return to action against Ulster recently.