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United Rugby Championship

Franco Smith warns Glasgow of unique challenge of SA opponents


Franco Smith, the Glasgow Warriors head coach, looks on during the Investec Champions Cup Round Of 16 match between Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors at The Stoop on April 05, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
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Glasgow head coach Franco Smith warned his players they face a unique test in the BKT United Rugby Championship this weekend.

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Warriors are in second place in the URC table ahead of their game against Lions at Scotstoun on Saturday night.

Smith said: “We know that another stern test awaits us as we look to back up a hard-earned result last weekend.

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“The Lions play a brand of rugby unlike any other in the competition, with a highly physical forward pack complementing a backline that has the potential to cause problems from anywhere on the field.”

Smith has made seven changes following last weekend’s narrow win against Munster with Tom Jordan returning to the midfield following his exploits for Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations.

The front row sees the most changes with Grant Stewart packing down between Nathan McBeth and Sam Talakai, while second-row JP du Preez makes his first start since a long-term injury lay-off.

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Comments on RugbyPass

U
Utiku Old Boy 38 minutes ago
Ethan de Groot makes 'easy' call on future with new deal until 2029

Had his best SRP season and is showing more enthusiasm and energy in Black. He’s a keeper.

2 Go to comments
U
Utiku Old Boy 40 minutes ago
Canterbury's latest Ranfurly Shield hero describes chaotic Otago win

This guy is very capable of going next level. Hard, energetic and increasingly accurate he could play across the back row (haven’t seen him much at 8 but he has all the attributes). NPC and Ranfurly Shield keeps growing NZ rugby!

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RC 1 hour ago
The locks and loose forwards are as good as New Zealand has had

3-1 ABs

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O
OtagomanII 1 hour ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

We are a good side lately after years of underachieving. I will say NZR bailed us out a while back as the union was being run really badly. Living beyond its means with some very well known identities being responsible. It could of easily not existed.

254 Go to comments
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PMcD 1 hour ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

Don’t mention that scrum that gave Jase Ryan PTSD NB. 🤣🤣 that would be very unfair at this stage but it may have got more potent with Wessells at hooker.

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j
jH 1 hour ago
The locks and loose forwards are as good as New Zealand has had

You all may get a shock, Blackadder as a reserve in test squad

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PMcD 1 hour ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

He is . . . . But Louw was probably Rassie’s most potent weapon last season. I don’t think he will be dropped anytime soon before RWC 2027.

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PMcD 1 hour ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

The Boks work you hard in the first 40 but are rarely dominant, then they change the props around 45 mins and the opposition realise how gassed they are . . . . and we all know what happens next - you get bulldozed by the replacement bench.

I think that’s exactly what will happen until the AB’s strengthen the wider 23 at RWC 2027 - Williams, (a fit) Scooter, Holland, possibly Retallick and Frizzell will add a lot to the scrum over an 80 min period but I think they will struggle during GRT over 80 mins.



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PMcD 1 hour ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

Because once SA put the ball at the 8’s feet the refs started to say “use it”, so they are having to leave the ball at the 2nd rows feet to prevent the ref from taking the easy option.

They are putting a lot of pressure on the opposition scrum and the ref to award them a penalty - it’s very clever and once they get the penalty they usually have an attack on pen advantage and then come back if nothing is happening.



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PMcD 1 hour ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

That was the best performing AB’s front row in recent memory, with potentially Holland and Tuipulotu behind them - parity at best is likely for the first 40 mins and then the problems start (as they did last year).

The SA replacement scrum will likely be stronger - Steenekamp, Wessells, Louw, as will a likely 6|2 bench split, so there are reasons to expect a strong SB scurm with an AB scrum trying to put their replacement combination together, whilst bringing Holland & Scooter back up to speed.



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Bruiser 1 hour ago
The locks and loose forwards are as good as New Zealand has had

Very selective comment on Aumoa’s throwing ….Taylor has had many dodgy patches with his lineout throwing. If Holland’s on the field, then Id probably hit the mark. The collective back row of this team are a work in progress and have promise. But comparing them to Z Brooke/Shelford/Jones/A Whetton/Brooke Cowden or Read/McCaw/Kaino/Vito/Messam ….nah dont think so

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PMcD 1 hour ago
Steve Borthwick makes 5 changes to his 2025/26 Elite Player Squad

England Rugby pay £150k to the players, which is effectively an offset by the Clubs, so they have to issue them for a full season to meet the salary cap once they offset £150k of their annual salary.

The EPS contract is an early warning system to confirm the level of muddling thinking by Borthwick around selection. It’s just a reminder this guy is totally out his depth at this level.



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Rabble 1 hour ago
Hunter Paisami’s ‘better we are’ take on Wallabies midfield battle

I agree with your first 9 points! Not your last 3 though.

Beale has a better footy brain these days, but he’s lost his spark too much I feel.



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PMcD 1 hour ago
Steve Borthwick makes 5 changes to his 2025/26 Elite Player Squad

Another round of EPS contracts that don’t really make sense.

England Rugby waited 5 years for BJvR, challenged his SA U20’s eligibility criteria, then failed to really play him when available and don’t give him an EPS contract, yet decided to give one to Henry Slade and Atkinson, who weren’t really first choice last season.



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NH 1 hour ago
Seven clips the Wallabies will be analysing after another tight win over Japan

Ross looked out of depth defensively and unfit. I’d see what Kailea can do…

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NH 1 hour ago
Seven clips the Wallabies will be analysing after another tight win over Japan

Fatigue doesnt’ just ‘happen’ after 60 minutes, its much more to do with ball in play time and the speed of ruck at any moment of the game. A perfectly fit and firing player can be gassed if they have to sprint, tackle, get up, ruck, sprint, tackle, ruck, repeat for 3 minutes plus across all parts of the field. This is exactly what happened in the leadup to Ito’s first try in the third clip. Notice it and the 2nd clip are both in the 11th minute and this was a particularly long, helter skelter period of play. Its no surprise props were tired around the ruck area, what was surprising was that given 2-3 opportunities to put it out, the wallabies instead decided to play on during this period and invite this style of play rather than opt to slow the game down. The WBs had the ball twice in this period (from memory), first time lonergan failed to find touch from a clearing box kick and the second time fraser quick tapped from his 22 after that ruck penalty shown at the end of clip 2.

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PickOllyMathisForAfricaTour,Dave 1 hour ago
Matfield predicts Bok 10 call for All Blacks, but differs from Erasmus

SFM offers a massive point of difference to the other guys on attack he can just donthings other players cant do.

Sure he hasnt played a lot of footy recently but the Argentina test and training would have him ready, he might be slightly underdone for the first AB test but not to the point where Libbock or Pollard would be better options.



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NH 2 hours ago
Seven clips the Wallabies will be analysing after another tight win over Japan

Nice one John. first of all well done on predicting many of these shifts pre-game 1, and secondly for the in-depth analysis, I particularly enjoy this format of article.

I think the counter rucking was a positive, particularly in that first~25 minutes of the game before they really fatigued and I thought they deserved a few more turnovers from it then they got. Hopefully they get a more favourable bounce of the ball this week and the post and pillar are more onto it. The only issue with it was that it didn’t seem to really slow the ruck down, it just created messy ball for japan which in this game helped in a way… I also liked the way in which the D line came up AND STAYED UP. It was by no means a rush defence, but its far better than under schmidt where they would too easily slide and soak, conceding easy metres. The shooting/one out stuff i’m a bit more questionable on but happy to give it a bit of time.



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cnw 2 hours ago
'Bit unfair': Bulls boss Johan Ackermann's vow before All Blacks clash

And why are they out anyway - yep understand those that had to travel to Argentina - but why not release those not travelling to play for Stormers and Sharks, especially those unlikely to make the match day 23.

31 Go to comments
T
Tooly 2 hours ago
Steve Borthwick makes 5 changes to his 2025/26 Elite Player Squad

Brian Smith was a VG Rugby man . As a player and a coach . Very astute .

I’m sorry to lose him .



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11 Go to comments
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