Franco Smith says Emirates Lions are favourites to beat Glasgow Warriors

The Emirates Lions are the one team to have beaten Glasgow Warriors in the last four months and Franco Smith believes that makes them favourites for this weekend’s Challenge Cup quarter-final.

The Lions defeated Glasgow 35-24 in a rearranged URC match in Johannesburg on February 25. The game was played on the same weekend Scotland played France in the Six Nations so Smith’s side travelled to South Africa without their frontline international players. The clubs will meet again on Saturday night at Scotstoun where home advantage is sure to be a significant factor given the travel involved and the fact that Glasgow have not lost on their own patch this season. Nevertheless, Smith intends to used the league defeat as motivation this week. “Did they beat us or did we lose?” asked the Glasgow coach. “We lost that one, I think. But that will be of benefit this week. We are facing a team that got the better of us last time out, so they are definitely the favourites. By a long shot.”

Glasgow cruised into the quarter-finals with a 73-33 thumping of the Dragons while the Lions saw off French side Racing 92 in Joburg, winning 51-28. Smith was guarded when asked if this game represented a significant step up in class for the Warriors. “Our standards are not measured against what we face,” said the coach. “We set our own standards and we need to make a step up in what we’ve been doing. The Lions scored 50 points against Racing and I think they’ve won four or five games in a row now so it will be a very good clash.”