Glasgow Warriors had to overcome nerves to book EPCR Challenge Cup final place - Franco Smith

Franco Smith said his Glasgow Warriors team had to overcome some first-half nerves before reaching a European final for the first time in the club’s history.

Sione Vailanu applauds the small band of travelling Glasgow Warriors supporters after the Euro semi-final win over Scarlets. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

They defeated the Scarlets 35-17 in Llanelli in front of a raucous home support in the semi-finals of the EPCR Challenge Cup and will now face either Toulon or Benetton in the final in Dublin on May 19. Glasgow trailed 14-7 at half-time but overwhelmed their opponents with four second-half tries from Stafford McDowall, George Horne, Johnny Matthews and Rory Darge. McDowall also scored in the first half.

“I think the Scarlets threw everything at us, and the way the crowd stuck behind them was immense,” said Smith, who has revitalised the Warriors in his first season in charge. “For us to handle the pressure that we put on ourselves, in the first half especially, and come away with the win was fantastic. I think there was a lot of nerves and a lot of pressure on ourselves. The guys wanted it too much but sometimes you have to concentrate on what you’ve got to do to get what you want. I think we felt just a little bit nervous, even the guys who have played Test match rugby, so lessons learned, we obviously settled everything down and went back to understanding the processes and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can take out of the review.”

Glasgow had to withstand periods of ferocious pressure from a home side roared on by a passionate near-capacity crowd inside Parc y Scarlets. They got particularly animated when Ollie Smith halted a promising Scarlets move with an attempted interception which he knocked on. They were baying for a penalty try and for the Warriors full-back to be carded but, after a video review, referee Mathieu Raynal decided Smith had made a genuine attempt to catch the ball. Unsurprisingly, Smith agreed with the French official. “I think he got another hand to it,” said the Glasgow coach. “If he hadn’t got another touch on it then maybe it would have been a different story. It looked like he tried to catch it and the fact that he got another touch on it obviously made a difference.”

Glasgow are the first Scottish team to qualify for a European final since Edinburgh lost to Gloucester in the Challenge Cup in 2015. The Warriors will find out their opponents on Sunday afternoon and a win for Benetton would see Smith up against the club he used to coach. Toulon, whose multi-national squad includes Cheslin Kolbe, Dan Biggar, Charles Ollivon and Sergio Parisse, have home advantage and will start as favourites but Smith isn’t ruling out a shock from the Italians.

“Benetton have been playing well lately and had some good games on the road, in South Africa,” he said. “Toulon are consistent and have a star-studded team so it’s going to be interesting. We’ll be sitting in front of the television watching.”

Before the final at the Aviva Stadium, Glasgow have unfinished business in the United Rugby Championship and face a home play-off quarter-final against Munster next Saturday night. Glory on two fronts remains a possibility for Smith and his impressive Warriors.