To say that Franco Smith has a deep knowledge of Loftus Versfeld would be an understatement.
After all, the well-travelled coach made his name on the same turf that the Vodacom United Rugby Championship will be played on this weekend.Smith arrived back in 1998 as a young upstart who had impressed at Griquas, but his partnership with Joost van der Westhuizen back then blossomed, so much so that he quickly became a Springbok, playing nine tests for the Green and Gold.
“We didn’t train this hard and work this hard to come up short,” he said ahead of the Loftus Versfeld final, where the Bulls will start as favourites.Despite the altitude, home ground and travel factor advantages, Smith is relishing the challenge of facing the Bulls a few weeks after they narrowly lost 40-34 at the same venue in regulation play.
But first his priority is to ensure that Glasgow makes the most of the challenge. After being parachuted into the job last year he took them on a 10-game winning streak, culminating with the EPCR Challenge Cup final, one that they were outclassed by Toulon in Dublin in. “There were a lot of challenges this season, trying to keep the enthusiasm and creativity, blend in the younger players and use as many of the squad as possible, because it is now a fact that you need more than 40 players to be competitive in both competitions. If that is the dream to be competitive in both competitions and to win some silverware at the back end - that is the dream of all coaching programmes.
As in real estate, location is everything, and Loftus Versfeld is perfectly suited for a high-performance environment that produces exceptional rugby players.“I’ve played there as well and know how much pride goes into that jersey and how much has been done lately to get that pride back into that jersey.
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