Franco Smith gives verdict on Glasgow Warriors' defeat by Newcastle and welcomes back player after year out

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith described their 47-31 pre-season friendly defeat by Newcastle Red Bulls as “mission accomplished” after a high-octane contest.

Newcastle looked like running away on the scoreboard having established a 35-7 lead at half time. However, the youthful Warriors showed great spirit to close their gap on their far more experienced opponents over the second 40 minutes.

The most important thing for Smith was getting game-time in the legs of his players as part of their pre-season preparations while also avoiding any injuries. He felt they did that and gained some valuable work-ons along the way.

Smith pleased to get through Newcastle pre-season encounter unscathed with young players getting minutes in their legs

"I've learnt from so many pre-season games in my life that it's not about the result,” said Smith. “I think they [Newcastle] were chasing the result a little bit more.

“I'm very happy, we definitely wanted to give minutes to Dan Halkon, Jake Shearer, Dylan Cockburn and Tavi Tuipulotu. Those are guys that we need to introduce to our environment, they must understand what it takes.

“You can experience this only if you feel it. We've learnt from it when we win the top games or play the top games, but we're also introducing a new bunch of players.

“It's a mission accomplished for us. They'll go away, they'll know exactly where the coaching will come from and where we expect more from them and where they need to grow.

“That fightback in the second half, to not lose faith in the process that we're doing, that's the thing I'm most proud of. It doesn't matter always about the result, it's the belief of the players and the understanding and the contribution of the coaching group.

“From a rugby specific perspective, I thought scrums were good. Lineouts not where we wanted it yet, but we are working specifically on the scrums at the moment. I thought defence, first half, we fell off, too much errors.

“We didn't move as well, so that needs a little bit of improvement. In general, our attack was alright, but the breakdown speed at the start of pre-season is always a challenge.

"We're taking a lot of lessons learned. Now we've got two-and-a-half weeks to work on it."

The Glasgow supporters who made it to Kingston Park also got a first look at hooker Ottavio Tuipulotu, the younger brother of Scotland captain and Warriors centre Sione. The forward signed at Scotstoun last summer but missed the entire 2025/26 campaign through injury.

“I told him before the game, all we want is a first outing,” added Smith. “So, that is achieved now.

“He's got confidence from that. Obviously, his strength scores are improving, everything he needs to still add to his young body to play in the front row. Hopefully, he'll come through with more energy.

“It looks like that [no injuries]. It will take a little bit to recover, but with the internationals in, we'll have a nice big group to train with."

Warriors will return to pre-season preparations as their international stars begin a phased return to training after the Summer Test matches. Their next outing comes on Friday, September 18 when they face another PREM Rugby side in Bath. That match will be played at Old Anniesland. They then begin their 2026/27 URC season away to Munster on Saturday, September 26.