Glasgow Warriors could give Scottish Rugby much to ponder as frustrating reality sets in

His long-awaited “high performance plan” to improve the pathway system into the national side will be made public this week but of more immediate concern is the future of Franco Smith.

The man who delivered a rare piece of silverware for the sport in Scotland after revitalising Glasgow Warriors is pondering his future. Smith is offering no guarantees he will be around to see out the final year of his contract and it was hard not to detect a sense of frustration as he contemplated going into the next season with a squad shorn of experienced operators such as Henco Venter, Sebastian Cancelliere and JP du Preez and Scotland squad men Tom Jordan and Jack Mann.

The frustration stems from being unable to replace them with players of a similar calibre amid “budget restrictions” as Scottish Rugby attempts to claw back huge losses (£11.3million for the last financial year and £10.5m in the year before that).

Smith, a proud man, has poured his heart and soul into the Glasgow job over the past three years and transformed the team into one which can challenge consistently for the game’s big prizes. They reached the European Challenge Cup final in his first season and won the United Rugby Championship in stunning fashion last year. Their defence of the title ended in defeat by Leinster in the semi-final in Dublin on Saturday and Smith was emotional as he discussed the campaign and what he sees as the club’s future. Fighting back tears, he spoke of their three main objectives but hinted that he may not necessarily be the coach leading the quest.

“I think whoever's going to be involved going forward with the growth of the players and getting them better and being prepared to play at this level… that's what we did,” he said. “We said that we will develop players, we'll manage internationals, and we'll win. If we get those three objectives done, what more does the club want? You can't always win everything. Even Leinster.”

No rest for Glasgow’s warriors

Four of his players will spend the summer with Nucifora and the Lions in Australia; many more will be named on Tuesday in Gregor Townsend’s Scotland tour party for New Zealand and Fiji and there is also likely to be a strong representation in the national under-20 squad for the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Italy.

There is little in the way of a close season for professionals at the top level and Smith envisages a staggered return to Glasgow depending on each player’s summer commitments. But the concern for the coach is a reduced squad, both in terms of numbers and quality following the high-profile departures.

“They're going to have individual return dates,” he said. “Some of them will return around the 4th of August. Obviously, our squad has been reduced so much, with budget restraints and whatever, so we will basically have only one group.

“I wanted to see the growth of the squad, having the academy a little bit bigger and our team still in the same numbers, but due to a lot of things, we will have basically one squad. We're going to progress the academy boys again next season.”

As things stand, lock Alex Craig and stand-off/centre Charlie Savala have both been recruited for next season and Racing 92 No 10 Dan Lancaster is expected to join them but more will surely be required to cope, particularly when Glasgow’s international players are away on international duty over the course of a rejigged schedule in which the Six Nations loses one of its rest weeks.

“I would have loved to [recruited more players],” added Smith. “For now... I don't know. I hope we can sit down and look at the fixture list. I think a lot of decisions were made before the fixture list came out: there are four international games in the autumn then a Six Nations with only one break in it. All the other weekends are taken.

“Our squad's been reduced. We've lost some of the foreigners. I'll be as honest as possible: that's going to put a lot of pressure on every aspect of our environment.”

Leinster’s 37-19 victory was their third over Glasgow this season and although it was not as startling as the 52-0 defeat in the Champions Cup in April, the gap between the sides still seems uncomfortably large. Smith said the Warriors would continue to try to fight on two fronts, Europe and the URC.

“We're certainly going to try. But if you put the 52-0 thing in perspective, it's a tough ask. The club should keep on trying. But people out there must understand it's a big, big ask.”

While he acknowledged supporters would be disappointed with the semi-final loss in Dublin, Smith said he was proud of how his squad had gone about defending their URC crown. Injuries took their toll and the absence for long periods of key performers such as their four Lions - Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings - as well as Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, du Preez, Rory Sutherland, Josh McKay and Sione Vailanu placed a strain on the squad. In addition, opponents raised their game against the champions.

Fans asked to ‘have a heart’

Smith felt Glasgow “ran short emotionally” at times but pointed to the introduction of young players such as Jare Oguntibeju, Macenzzie Duncan, Seb Stephen and Duncan Munn as proof of progress.

He asked people to “have a heart” as they reflect on Saturday's result and the season as a whole.

“Disappointment maybe sits there [after the semi-final loss], but after I've said all of that, I'm absolutely not disappointed. I’m really proud of the season, proud of the way the boys went about the business.

“I ask the best of them as people and as players, because it's a fricking tough job to run into a brick wall every week, and they did, so I'm proud of them.”