Glasgow hit back at Stephen Donald's 'absolutely unfounded' comments

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith has launched a passionate defence of the United Rugby Championship, labelling comments from former All Black Stephen Donald about the competition as “absolutely unfounded”.

Donald, a World Cup winner in 2011, suggested Leinster centre Jordie Barrett should not start for New Zealand in their forthcoming Test series against France as he has been playing at “a very, very low level” in the URC compared to those in Super Rugby Pacific.

That has certainly raised the hackles of those involved with the 16-team competition featuring sides from Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Wales and Italy.

Smith, who coached Treviso in the old Magners League – which successively became the Pro12, Pro14 and then the URC, featuring the top four South African teams, in 2021 – also coached South African side Cheetahs in both Super Rugby and the Pro14.

His impact since arriving at Glasgow in the summer of 2022 has been colossal, guiding Warriors to a first URC title last season with victory in the final over the Bulls.

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“First of all, I’ve coached Super Rugby, I’ve been involved with Super Rugby for a long time,” Smith said. “Yes, that’s a very good competition. But I don’t know if Stephen Donald has coached one day in the URC. He’s definitely not played in the URC.

“He has played at Bath I think [an 18-month spell from late 2011 to 2013]. But it will be hard for him to be able to make that kind of statement if he doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of the competitions. Again, I think that’s unfounded. I think the URC is an excellent competition. It’s fed the Six Nations teams for many a year with huge success.

“I’ve been involved with it since the Magners League in 2010, then the RaboDirect, and then later the Pro 12 and Pro 14. I’ve been basically involved in all of the eras. This is a very good competition.

“Yes, you travel over time differences there [in Super Rugby], which might be challenging, but you play different styles on both sides of the hemisphere.

“This competition is massive. You have South African flavour, with their World Cup winners in the competition. You’ve got the Irish provinces, who have arguably for a long period also been leading on the Test match front.

“You have the Scotland teams and you have the Italian teams that are improving week by week. So, I think that is absolutely unfounded. I think we’d love to hear what the reasons are why he thinks it’s weaker.”

Friday should provide an eloquent demonstration of the URC’s relative strength as Glasgow host the Bulls in a repeat of last season’s final.

Warriors, in second place, have already booked themselves a home quarter-final, but Bulls, four points behind in third, would strengthen their own chances of securing home advantage through the knock-out stages if they can win at Scotstoun.

Some of the URC’s own platforms are billing the game as ‘The Revenge Match’, after Glasgow recovered from 13-0 and 16-7 down to stun the Bulls 21-16 at their Pretoria fortress in an epic title decider last June.

Bulls head coach Jake White alluded to the extra motivation his side will bring to Glasgow after an impressive win over Munster in Limerick last week, saying, “I can promise you from the day we started pre-season, the 25th of April was always going to be the game that we were going to go hard for.”

Smith, on the other hand, has played down the contest, insisting it is merely another step on the road to his side trying to hit a peak again when the play-offs come around.

“I think there’s more being made by them about this,” he said. “I think he [White] said that in the press conference after the final. It might have been in their minds the whole time. Our motivation was different.

“If their fire was stoked for one game of the season, then this is the one, I suppose. But we looked at it more in the bigger picture. All these games we had to fight hard, work hard and manage a big squad with internationals in and out.

“So our challenges were different. But regardless of this game, there’s a lot more rugby to be played. I’m not sure if a revenge win here will be the only thing on their minds. It’s definitely not on our minds.”

Smith is confident his side, even without Scotland quintet Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Zander Fagerson, Jack Dempsey and Matt Fagerson, plus full-back Josh McKay, who has picked up an infection in the ankle area where he recently had surgery, will be able to handle the Bulls’ intensity levels.

“We wouldn’t expect less,” he added. “Regardless of revenge, they’re a South African team. They’re third in the log. They want to win away from home. They want to finish second so they can have home advantage [in the semi-finals).

“It’s a lot to play for. We’re always expecting that energy to come. We must just be on our own game and apply ourselves the best we can and hope we can improve on our own performance.”