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How Franco Smith describes Glasgow KO challenge against Munster

By PA
RG Snyman and Tadhg Beirne of Munster celebrate a scrum penalty during the United Rugby Championship quarter-final match between Munster and Ospreys at Thomond Park in Limerick. (Photo By Harry Murphy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Franco Smith readily acknowledges the task that awaits his Glasgow team in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship semi-final clash against Munster.

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Glasgow face the reigning URC champions in Limerick, tackling a Munster side unbeaten for 10 league games and just two wins away from completing a successful title defence.

“Munster are one of the top teams, and I can’t remember when they haven’t made the top eight or played in the top four,” Glasgow head coach Smith said.

“If you look at the way they came back after the (38-26) defeat against us last year, they just kept rolling it out and won the competition away from home, which says a lot.

“They are unbeaten in the last 10 games, including two of those being in South Africa.”

Glasgow underlined strong title credentials with an impressive victory over quarter-final opponents the Stormers last time out, and Smith has named an unchanged team under Kyle Steyn’s captaincy.

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It is the Warriors’ first URC semi-final appearance since 2019, with a solitary switch among the replacements seeing Murphy Walker taking over from Nathan McBeth.

Smith added: “I hope the boys show the same collective and calm approach that they did last week. Continuity so late in the season is most important.

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“What has happened doesn’t count, it is the next action that is going to be the most important. There is not a second chance in knockout rugby.

“Your approach changes a little bit, but you must find the balance so that you have enough continuity of what took you into the semi-finals, but still have the ability to be more precise and clinical in your execution.”

Munster progressed to the last four by defeating Ospreys, and head coach Graham Rowntree has made four changes from that game.

Full-back Mike Haley and fit-again centre Alex Nankivell start, with Simon Zebo moving to the wing after a leg knock ruled out Calvin Nash.

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In the pack, lock Fineen Wycherley and number eight Jack O’Donoghue are called up, replacing RG Snyman and Gavin Coombes, who are among the replacements.

The winners at Thomond Park will face South African heavyweights the Bulls or Leinster in the final on June 22.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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