Franco Smith joked that he’s no Rassie Erasmus facsimile after loading his bench for Glasgow’s Champions Cup encounter against Toulon in Stade Mayol on Sunday.
Smith is no stranger to tinkering with his line-up and again caught the eye by naming Johnny Matthews, Rory Sutherland, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings and Matt Fagerson among his “bomb squad” replacements.
That means a start away to the three-time European champions for more callow forwards Gregor Hiddleston, Jare Oguntibeju, Alex Samuel and Jack Mann, with Smith foreseeing the benefit of being able to call upon more established names in the latter stages of what will likely be an attritional encounter.
That’s a tactic utilised regularly by Erasmus and the Springboks, as witnessed in the Autumn Series Test at Murrayfield when he named a 7-1 bench split and brought on a half-dozen forwards in one switch. Smith, though, smiled that he was the original thinker on this one rather than his countryman.
“I’m disappointed that you are comparing me with Rassie Erasmus!” said the Warriors head coach. “I think we’ve shown over the last two-and-a-half years that he’s copying us, isn’t he?
“I said from the start [of his Warriors tenure] that my philosophy is to pick the players that are going to be on the field in the last 20 minutes first. That is the part of the game where nobody goes to the fridge to get another beer.
“At the same time, it allows us to rotate the squad with an eye on the numerous high-quality games that are still to come. But this is not the bomb squad being copied. I think the bomb squad was copied from us!”
There is rotation among the backs, too, including a rare start for scrum-half Ben Afshar, with Jamie Dobie utilised on the wing and Sebastian Cancelliere rested.
“Ben has proved to ourselves and to himself that he is ready for a big challenge,” explained Smith. “I think he is a quality rugby player. Like I did with Gregory Hiddleston against Exeter a year ago, it’s an important game for him. He’s worked hard and I’m excited to see what he can do.”
Stade Mayol has a reputation as one of the most intimidating venues in European rugby and Smith expects Toulon to be buoyant after opening their Champions Cup campaign with a win away to the Stormers.
“We know that the environment is hostile there,” added Smith, who has rested Huw Jones due to an MCL (medial collateral ligament) issue. “The crowd is very loud. They will be very energetic and eager to get a job done after a big win on the road.
“We understand that they are going to be a real challenge at home and it also makes them favourites in my point of view. They’ve gone a long way in this competition before. They’ve won it and their fans will know that. We’re going to try and be the best we can as well. We’re looking forward to a tough challenge.”
