Why growing Scottish rugby is high on the agenda for Franco Smith, plus Glasgow Warriors injury update

Smith is a former South African international but has approached his work in this country with a missionary zeal which goes beyond achieving success with his club. His commitment to nurturing talent benefits not only the Warriors but also the national side and on the eve of the new season he has reaffirmed his commitment to bringing young players through for the betterment of all.

A low-key friendly in Italy against Zebre on Saturday night marks Glasgow’s first outing since the momentous occasion in Pretoria when they cut down the Bulls in their own backyard. It may lack the lustre of that famous evening at Loftus Versfeld but it is an important building block ahead of the new competitive campaign which begins next month.

Smith has selected a mainly young squad to travel to Parma, leaving behind most of the Scotland internationals who toured North and South America over the summer. It’s an opportunity for the untried to stake a claim and he has included a number of players who are part of the club’s expanded academy intake for the new season. Smith sees it as the first step to building on, and perhaps exceeding last season’s success

“I stated when I started two years ago that there’s a process and we want to build and become as good as we can get,” said the coach. “Yes, along the way accolades may be bestowed on us, but we can still improve a lot. Even on the review of the final there were still things we can do better, so I’m looking forward to that part of our objectives.

“But then there’s also the opportunity now to bring a lot of young Scottish players through, like we’re going to try and do this weekend. That’s part of the commitment - we want to grow Scottish rugby and our own player base, make it as competitive as possible in the squad.

“And at the same time, we want our players playing better, we want our junior players developing, and our brand can still be relevant - our playing brand. So yeah, I’m looking forward to the challenge this season.”

Smith has picked a 30-strong squad to face Parma and the youthful core is augmented by an experienced group which includes Jamie Bhatti, Henco Venter, Grant Stewart, Jamie Dobie, Tom Jordan, Josh McKay, Sean Kennedy and Duncan Weir, who will captain the team.

Asked how he felt Glasgow could improve on last season’s success, the coach called for them to be more clinical in taking their chances.

“There are so many opportunities created in every game,” said Smith. “And that’s not a negative - all teams create. It’s the team that can make the most of those opportunities that obviously becomes more successful and shows that growth.

“The experience that the players have now had in some difficult conditions and away from home should allow them now to challenge themselves even more from an execution perspective.

“So we want to keep on creating more opportunities. And we want to be able to identify the space and play to that. We have the skill set, we have the make-up - our team make-up is made around that - it’s now about taking more of those opportunities.

“We won’t ever take every one. So there are 10 opportunities - if we can get to 60 per cent I’ll be really happy. But currently we’re round about three or four out of 10. It still gives you three or four tries, but I still feel for us, with the challenges ahead and the way that other teams are going to approach their game against us, we will need to make even more of those opportunities created.”

Smith also gave an update on Glasgow's long-term injuries and said he doesn’t expect Ollie Smith, Sione Vailanu and JP du Preez to return until December. “They are all more or less in that same bracket, to see if we can have them back around just before Christmas.” All three sustained serious knee injuries last season.

Glasgow Warriors squad (v Zebre Parma, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Saturday, 7.30pm):

Front row: Tom Banatvala, Jamie Bhatti, Angus Fraser, Gregor Hiddleston, Grant Stewart, Fin Richardson, Patrick Schickerling, Callum McFeat Smith.

Second and back rows: Olujare Oguntibeju, Ryan Burke, Alex Samuel, Euan Ferrie, Gregor Brown, Jack Mann, Henco Venter, Macenzzie Duncan.

Half-backs: Ben Afshar, Jamie Dobie, Sean Kennedy, Richie Simpson, Duncan Weir.

Backs: Tom Jordan, Duncan Munn, Johnny Ventisei, Kerr Johnstone, Ben Salmon, Amena Caqusau, Logan Trotter, Fergus Watson, Josh McKay.