FRANCO Smith is hoping that a game against the team where he made his name as a player, will help establish his name as coach of Glasgow Warriors.
A yo-yo start to the season could do with an upswing against the unbeaten Vodacom Bulls, with a tough two-week trip to South Africa looming after that.
The 32-17 loss to Ospreys was a second poor defeat on the road this season. While there were a couple of close refereeing decisions and bounces of the ball which went against Glasgow, the bottom line is that the score was 32-3 going into the 79th minute of the game.
Contrast that with putting 52 points on Cardiff in Glasgow and both coach and captain Ali Price are hoping the return to home comforts at Scotstoun will also see a return to that scintillating form against last season’s beaten finalists.
“I played for the Bulls for a long time, I am looking forward to it,” said Smith. “I would have loved to have kicked on this week, the disappointment of not kicking on from our perform-
ance last week will take up a little bit of today and Monday, but we know how to resolve those problems.
“Hopefully the energy which will come with the Bulls will help our cause. The challenge is going be huge, the Bulls
haven’t lost, I know them very well and know exactly what’s coming. Their execution has been very good, they are not spectacular, they are not doing
extraordinary good things, they are just accurate – everything we lacked today.”
Price wants to invigorate the fans in the same way as they did in the Cardiff match, to give his team a platform to then end a run of nine successive defeats away from home.
“At home, like we were last week, it is a joy to be a part of and we make our home fans stand on their feet; our challenge is to do that away from home as well,” he said.
“You park the result, compared to week one we showed a bit more of ourselves, you tend to get a bit of a home advantage, back on the horse and then a trip to South Africa ahead.
“There is a lot to look forward to as we search for consistency. It is massive to get the win this week, we have had one good result in the first three games, we are searching to find that in every game.
“The Bulls are three from three and going well, it will be a tough test, a different test again, but we know we are capable, it is just about executing.
“There was a lot said after the Treviso game and we bounced back, we managed to show a lot of what we had been working on in the summer against Cardiff at home, that’s what we will be looking for.”
Late tries by Ali Kebble and Tim Gordon in the 79th minute and then injury time gave Glasgow something to take into this week.
There was also a disallowed try for Sam Johnson from a superb counter-attack while the game was still in the melting pot, along with several goal-line opportunities to build on.
Glasgow are waiting to find out the extent of a rib injury for No.8 Jack Dempsey, as well as whether hooker George Turner will face any further action for a challenge on home outside half Gareth Anscombe which saw him leave the pitch with a rib injury as well.
But more than anything else they need to regain the form shown against Cardiff or they will be in for a tough three weeks.
