Franco Smith reveals talks with England, his Scotland ambitions and Glasgow Warriors decision

Smith, who led Glasgow to the United Rugby Championship title in 2024, is a man in demand and has been approached by several suitors.

Wales, Leicester Tigers and the Bulls all sounded him out but the South African coach this week signed a new contract with Warriors which ties him to the Scotstoun club until summer 2028.

Smith, 53, admitted he became frustrated towards the end of last season as it became clear he would be losing some of his foreign and international players. He will work with a smaller squad in the new campaign but is up for the challenge and believes there is a lot more to come from this group of Glasgow players.

A number of approaches

However, the former Italy coach still hankers to work again at international level and would be interested in becoming Scotland coach in the future. Gregor Townsend also signed a new contract this week, with the national boss agreeing a deal to stay until the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Both Smith and Scottish Rugby chiefs insist there is no succession plan in place but the Murrayfield hierarchy will be mindful of the predators circling and the prospect of losing Smith to England is one to set alarm bells ringing.

“There was a number [of approaches],” said Smith. “You know about Leicester, you know about Wales. I had a brief chat with England and then obviously the Bulls. There's been conversations.”

Smith said he spoke with Conor O’Shea, executive director of performance rugby for the Rugby Football Union and the man he succeeded as Italy coach in 2019, and stressed that it had nothing to do with the England head coach’s job currently held by Steve Borthwick.

‘I know Conor well...’

“In accordance to what we agreed on back then, I'm not going to say much about it,” said Smith. “We had some good conversations. It had nothing to do with the head coach at all there. It was a completely different role.

“I obviously know Conor well. I took over from him. I think the fact that both parties kept it under the radar [is something] I'm really proud of. It's not relevant anymore, so I'm just going to stop there.”

Scottish Rugby put out joint statements on Wednesday to announce that both Smith and Townsend had signed new deals to stay with Glasgow and Scotland, respectively. Many see Smith as a natural successor to Townsend but the Warriors coach said nothing to that effect had been agreed

“No, there was no formal commitment from anybody,” he said. “We're just talking about the next job here at the Warriors.”

Smith did, however, reiterate his desire to return to Test rugby at some point. “Yes, I would love to have another go,” said Smith, who coached Italy from 2019 to 2021 and then became Italian rugby’s head of high performance before taking the Glasgow job in summer 2022. I think it stays any coach's dream. But not to the detriment of sacrificing what I'm currently busy with.

“Maybe there's more experience to gain from my side and I'm going to keep on working hard. But yes, I think a club should be proud if the coach has that ambition. Not to settle for the ordinary and try to push the limits and become the best version of themselves. Hopefully, that will be to the benefit of the people he works with from a coaching perspective and from a player perspective. One wants to coach international. I've done it before and I would love to have another go at it.”

Asked specifically if the Scotland job would appeal to him in the future, Smith said: “Of course but it mustn’t be taken out of context here. The reason I'm staying here has nothing to do with that only. It's not the reason I'm staying here. That can be an outcome of the Scottish Rugby administration if they decide to use me. Obviously, I just want to be the best version of myself.”

Smith added that he “knew the players well”, with his Glasgow squad making up the bulk of the Scotland team.

Frustrations of last season

For now, though, his focus is on Glasgow who return to action on Saturday in a pre-season friendly against English champions Bath at the Rec. The Warriors go into the new campaign with a reduced squad having lost eight senior players, including Tom Jordan, Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter, Jack Mann and JP du Preez.

With Scottish Rugby budgets remaining the same and not keeping pace with the higher wages Glasgow’s title-winning players can command, clubs in England and France have come in and signed some of the Warriors’ best talent. Smith admitted that it had been difficult to deal with.

“My emotion at the back end of last season was frustration more than anything,” said the coach. “We're building some good teams and good players here and the expectation is high and everyone wants to maintain that. Like I said at the back end of last season, the frustration of some of the internationals, the foreign players not being available in the next season, our squad size has become smaller which changes the shape of the rugby programme.

“We want to drive to make as many Scottish players as possible and that was a bit frustrating. The desire to win and to still perform at the top end is important.

It was tough, says Smith

“We don't want to make players that can play for Scotland, we want to make winners for Scotland. I think that [frustration] spilled over a little bit. It was tough because I was never not going to finish my contract in 2026. I think I was already being approached by them to stay longer. I wanted to give it some decent thought. I've taken a lot of things into account.”

Glasgow’s defence of their URC title ended at the semi-final stage last season with a defeat by Leinster in Dublin and Smith was very emotional after the match, seeming to cast doubt on his future at the club. However, he has now committed to the new deal and made it clear that he never sought opportunities elsewhere.

“It was insinuated that I applied for other work,” he said. “I was approached always, I've never applied. I didn't want to leave Scotland at all and the Warriors specifically. Obviously, the approaches came and it made one think what to say. In the end, I just felt I've worked well with a bunch of top internationals, the Lions and internationals.

“There's two types of players, I hope, here at Glasgow. Those that are internationals and those that are going to become internationals. I know leading up to the World Cup they're going to need that consistency in their daily training environment. I felt we've worked well. All of those things I took into account.

“I believe we can continue to make a difference here. The coaching group, their support and understanding of what I'm about is really good, it makes this place special.

“I enjoy coming to work every day. Now I'm going to try and work hard despite the challenges, the full season. There's no off weeks.”