'Fantastic': Glasgow Warriors take huge positive from clash with star-studded Bath
Russell pulls the strings as Gallagher PREM heavyweights run out 53-5 winners at Old Anniesland.
Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith was delighted that his young side got to end their pre-season fixtures by facing a full-strength Bath team.
The starting XV for the English heavyweights included Scotland stars Finn Russell and Josh Bayliss as well as several other experienced internationalists. Warriors, meanwhile, fielded a squad that was largely made up of recent academy graduates.
The South African even said he was reluctant to bring some of his senior players off the bench as the fixture was proving such a good test for the youngsters. In the end, the final scoreline of 53-5 was not nearly as important to him as the experience this new generation of talent gained from facing such quality opponents.
“If they get that experience then that’s fantastic”
“I think the three objectives we had was to be brave, to be physical and to show the effort, and I thought we've seen that.” said Smith. "There was not a tactical issue tonight. We were just men against... I want to call them young men.
“These guys [Bath] are a top team in the Premiership. They've been consistent in Europe and played in the semi-finals and quarter-finals last year.
"So if they get that experience, then that's fantastic. We started with the technical stuff years ago and if you put them amongst the senior players, you wouldn't notice a difference.”
With their pre-season fixtures now completed and their 2026/27 URC opener at Munster a week away, the question is whether the head coach believes these young players are ready to step in when it really counts. It’s something the former Italy boss has absolutely no doubts about.
He added: “The reason I played them in these two games is so that, one, they experience it, but two, we can make sure that they are best prepared and have a good understanding of what's going to come when we need it the most.
"If we have so many internationals in our team, they are the boys that are going to play the most important games this season. Now we know how to work, they understand what we want.
"So if we maybe had it close tonight, it would have been a false truth. So tonight we ripped the bandage off and everybody can understand what we threw down."
Your next rugby read: Strong Bath outclass youthful Glasgow Warriors as Finn Russell pulls the strings
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.