Rugby in Scotland 'has to be on artificial grass' as injury update issued on key player

Smith is midway through his fourth season in charge at Scotstoun and the South African is just about coming to terms with the weather in the west of Scotland.

The forecast for the visit of Antoine Dupont and co is inclement, with the Met Office predicting a 90 per cent chance of rain and 20mph winds while the match takes place.

Smith joked that he might not turn up if it’s as bad as that but he also had a serious point to make about the difficulty of improving skills on muddy grass pitches.

“You can't play rugby in Scotland, in my opinion, if it's not on artificial grass,” said the coach. “There's too much rain, too often, to maintain a pitch.

Wet grass can hamper skills

“Compliments to the groundsmen at Murrayfield, because to keep that surface so dry and to be able to play a presentable brand on it is fantastic. I know the men that work there, so compliments to them. They really do a good job.

“But it's really tough to play on a wet field. Your skill development is different, your running development is different, your completion of passing the ball is tough. I think that is something that challenges the development of rugby players in Scotland because they play on so many wet fields.

“I think from a spectacle perspective, we are really glad that we have the artificial pitch.”

Toulouse may not agree. The French side don’t play on plastic in the Top 14 and speaking earlier this week, Glasgow’s assistant coach Scott Forrest talked up the advantage it could give the Warriors.

“There's not many 3G pitches in France, I'm not sure if there's any in the Top 14, and our boys are used to training on that day to day, playing on it every other week,” said Forrest.

Huw Jones injury update

“Yes, it's an advantage. But we've got to make it an advantage, it won't just take care of itself. You want to move their big men around, you want to make them get up and down off the ground, we want to tire them out.”

Artificial pitches have their disadvantages too. There is less give than real grass and that can be an issue when players are returning from injury, a point head coach Smith made on Friday.

Huw Jones has not played this season due to a long-running Achilles issue which was operated on after the Lions tour and Smith suggested progress has stalled slightly.

“We're treading water a little bit there,” said Smith. “One day forward, one day back. It is a difficult injury because it's underneath his foot, so there's toe movement and there's heel movement and there's muscle movement and tendons that play a role in that recovery. So yes, with Scotstoun’s pitch, that's not grass, so we always have challenges. He's progressing and we hope that we will get him back still within the original time frame.”

Smith was reluctant to be more specific than that but it would be fair to assume that the Scotland centre is unlikely to play again this year.